BACOLOD CITY —“King” Arthur Villanueva scored a freak fourth round knockout of Mexican Juan Jimenez to bag the World Boxing Organization Asia Pacific bantamweight title in the chief support of Pinoy Pride 36 Saturday.
The fighters banged their heads in the corner, hurting Villanueva and dropping Jimenez out cold.
Referee Dan Nietes counted the Mexican out at the 21-second mark as he lay unconscious on the canvas for a few minutes.
A towel was put to raise the head of Jimenez who was also given oxygen by the ring physician to hasten his recovery.
Jimenez regained his wits after close to 10 minutes and was able to leave the ring on his feet.
Villanueva, who hails from Bago City, raised his record to 29-1 with 15 knockouts while Jimenez dropped to 22-10, 15 KOs.
It was an action-packed bout with Jimenez dropping Villanueva with a combination capped by a right straight in the second round.
Infuriated, Villanueva retaliated by unleashing a solid right and knocking down Jimenez early in the third.
The two fighters banged heads in the fourth, hurting Villanueva but inflicting more severe damage on the game Mexican.
Earlier, Milan Melindo won by technical unanimous decision over Mexican Maximino Flores in a bout halted by Referee Ber Abainza at the 54-second mark of the seventh round due to a deep cut sustained by the Filipino following an accidental clash of heads.
The three judges gave Melindo, who improved to 34-2 with 12 knockouts, the upper hand, 69-64, 68-65, 67-66. The wiry and rangy Flores, a late substitute, fell to 19-3, 13 KOs.
For coming in 4.75 pounds over the 110-lb limit in Friday’s weigh-in, however, Melindo was ordered to don 10-ounce gloves, instead of Flores’ 8 lb, and yield 20 percent of his purse to the aggressive Mexican.
Prime prospect Kevin Jake Cataraja finished off Thai Chatchai Or Benjamas in 0.14 seconds of the fourth round to notch his fourth straight win in as many bouts.
Jonas “Zorro” Sultan caught Rommel Oliveros with a crackling right straight to the jaw in the fifth round to stop the challenger and keep his Philippine super flyweight crown at the 2:13 mark.