The taller and quicker Zolani Tete proved to be too much for ALA Promotions’ contender “King” Arthur Villanueva
Arthur Villanueva (30-2, 16KOs) absorbed his second loss of his career, yielding to South Africa’s Zolani Tete (25-3) in Leicester Arena, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom, on Sunday morning. The bout had the vacant interim WBO World Bantamweight belt at stake.
The 28-year old native of Negros Occidental struggled to find his rhythm all throughout the fight as Tete surprised the Filipino with his speed and counter punches from the get-go. Making things worse for Villanueva was a cut he sustained from a headbutt early in the fight.
All three judges scored in favor of Tete, 119-108, 119-108, 120-107, for him to claim the title.
In spite of his loss, Villanueva (30-2, 16 KOs) thanked everyone who has supported him in his campaign and apologized for the lackluster showing.
“Thank you po sa lahat ng nag pray at supporta sa laban ko,” he shared. “Talo po ako pero wala akong regret kasi ginawa ko na lahat ng makakaya ko. Sorry po sa lahat.”
Initially, this fight was for the right to face the winner of Marlon Tapales-Shohei Omori, which is set to take place today in Japan. However, the bout was promoted to an interim title affair after Tapales vacated his title at the scales. He weighed in two pounds over the scheduled 118-pound championship limit.
Initially, this bout also had one more thing at stake as the winner of this bout would have faced the victor of the Marlon Tapales-Shohei Omori bout in Japan. However, Tapalas was stripped of the WBO Bantamweight crown due to not making the 118 pound-limit.
