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[av_heading heading=’ (‘king’ arthur villanueva caption) VILLANUEVA ‘Pinoy Pride 42’ in Cebu: ‘King’ Arthur back in ring ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday. September 15, 2017
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MANILA – Negrense boxer “King” Arthur Villanueva returns to the ring to face veteran Ritchie Mepranum in the undercard of “Pinoy Pride 42” on Saturday at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City.
This will be the first fight of the Bago City, Negros Occidental native after his unanimous-decision defeat to South African Zolani Tete in the fight for the WBO bantamweight title in April.
ALA Boxing Promotions’ Michael Aldeguer said the fight against Mepranum is important for Villanueva to take a shot at another world title fight, possibly against WBC bantamweight champion Luis Nery of Mexico.
“He (Villanueva) has to win to be on track and considered for a world title clash,” said Aldeguer. “I know he wants to have another shot at a world title, so I know he prepared hard for Ritchie (Mepranum).”
The Villanueva-Mepranum clash is one of the undercards of Filipino boxer Milan Melindo’s first defense of his IBF light flyweight championship against African Hekkie Budler.
Villanueva, a 28-year-old two-time world title challenger, sports an impressive 30-2-0 win-loss-draw record, with 16 stoppage victories.
The Negrense also won 27 straight fights before suffering his first defeat at the hands of McJoe Arroyo for the vacant IBF world super flyweight title in 2015 in the United States in a controversial technical decision.
Mepranum, a former WBU world super flyweight champion, will be parading a 31-6-1 win-loss-draw slate with eight stoppage wins. He, however, lost his last two fights against Carlos Cuadras and Nery./PN
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