[hdvideo id=1110 ratingscontrol=on views=on title=on]
Pinoy Pride 38 Arthur Villanueva vs. Juan Jimenez
September 24, 2016 Arthur Villanueva vs. Juan Jimenez 2 The Rematch at StubHub Center, Carson, California
Pinoy Pride 38 Philippines vs Mexico Co-Main Event
An early win for ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva as he knocks out Jimenez in the second round of Pinoy Pride 38 event
‘King’ Arthur Villanueva Saturday night lived up to his nickname ‘King’ when he knocked out Mexico’s Juan Jimenez in the second round of the Pinoy Pride 38 match. The Negros Occidental sportsman landed his opponent a solid right hook that sent him straight to a blackout towards the end of the second round.
Villanueva and Jimenez were fighting on the undercard of Donnie ‘Ahas’ Nietes and Edgar Sosa. The Nietes vs Sosa match had been the center of this year’s Pinoy Pride event which was being held outside Philippines for the fifth time ever since its inception. The event has been a winning affair for the Filipinos as Nietes too beat Sosa in their widely watched match. Philippines’s Mark ‘Magnifico’ had also earlier on emerged victorious in his undercard face off with Mexico’s Ramiro Robles.
Validating his first win
The WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight champion had been seeking to validate his May 2015 win over Jimenez which had been challenged by the Mexican’s side. Villanueva had rendered Jimenez unconscious through a head butt in the fourth round of the match. The Mexican’s camp afterwards claimed that the head butt hadn’t been a legitimate punch and immediately called for a rematch.
ALA Promotions had assented to the rematch request from Jimenez’s people and had therefore organized a second duel for the two at the StubHub Center, California stage.
Villanueva’s 2:20 minute second round blackening of Jimenez proved that his first win had indeed been deserved and that he is a force to reckon with in the bantamweight category.
A better professional ranking for Villanueva
King Arthur’s Saturday night triumph over Mexican challenger has improved his standing in professional boxing. He is now placed at 30-1 with 16 KOs. Even better still for his career, he has also gotten to retain his WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight Championship title.
Apart from improving his career standing, Villanueva’s win over Jimenez also served to help him redeem his name following a hard to accept July 2015 loss to Puerto Rican McJoe Arroyo. Villanueva had faced the Puerto Rico native in a race for the IBF super flyweight world title. He had been doing well all through the match and had appeared set to win until a 10th round head clash caused the match to be stopped with it ending in Arroyo’s favor.
As the curtains came down on this match that had been held at the Don Haskins Convention in El Paso, Texas, King Arthur had had no option but to accept the loss and to live to fight another day as most boxers who face defeat usually do.
A dip for Jimenez
Whereas Villanueva has every reason to smile following his Saturday night knockout of Jimenez, the Chihuahua born bantamweight boxer has a cause for alarm. The latest knockout by Villanueva is the tenth one he has faced in his career and aside from this, his boxing ranking has gone down to 22-11 with 15 KOs. This certainly doesn’t spell good for El Peñita’s career and he has to step up his game in order to save it.
Villanueva on his win
Speaking to the press after the fight, Villanueva said he had come into the match seeking a convincing win but hadn’t expected that this would happen so early in the game. He added that he merely followed the instructions from his coach and this, in addition to the strength and conditioning training he had been receiving helped him grab Saturday night’s win.
Neither Villanueva nor his camp has spoken on his next move but it is expected that he will now move on and face much bigger opponents in the bantamweight category.
