villanueva-jimenez.fn.01.330w Credit/Photo by Levi Deresas –

BACOLOD CITY — In the main undercard on the Nietes-Rayito Garcia world title fight at the University of St La Salle Coliseum here, ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva won by 4th round knockout over Juan Jimenez of Mexico in a rather unusual and bizarre ending to what promises to be a great fight.

Jimenez (22-10-0, 15KO) threw his punches with bad intent and a six-punch combo felled Villanueva in the second round although Arthur appeared to have recovered quickly. In the beginning of the third round, Villanueva connected with a hard left and moments later Villanueva felled Jimenez with a wicked right. A torrid exchange towards the end of the third round wobbled Jimenez. Sensing blood, Villanueva put on the pressure on Jimenez as the 4th round starts. As Villanueva throws a combination towards Jimenez near the red corner, both boxers head collided and Jimenez was down on the canvas holding his head while Referee Dan Nietes administered the count and reached the count of 10 as Jimenez remained sprawled in the canvas for a considerable amount of time.

Officially, Villanueva was announced the winner by knockout at 21 seconds of the 4th round.

A replay showed that it was the clash of heads that caused the knockdown and not by a punch although the referee claimed that a punch also hit Jimenez as he went down.

GAB official Rolando Mendoza told Philboxing that it “was an accidental headbutt and just like an accidental low blow, the aggrieved boxer would be given 5 minutes to get back into the fight but Jimenez, who remained lying on the canvas for a considerable amount of time, would not be able to continue.

Villanueva thus captured the WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight title and improved his record to 29-1-0 with 15 knockouts. Jimenez dropped to 22-10-0.

www.philboxing.com/news/story-119506.html