Villanueva-Tete world title eliminator moved

Arthur Villanueva’s bout with Zolani Tete of South Africa will be delayed (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia Pacific Bantamweight champion “King” Arthur Villanueva of ALA Boxing Gym will have to wait a little longer before he could face world number two Zolani Tete of South Africa.

Both were supposed to fight in a world title eliminator this February, but the South African’s promoters said they will be moving the fight to April. No official date and venue were given.

Villanueva’s promoter, Michael P. Aldeguer, the CEO of the Cebu-based ALA Promotions International, was disappointed with Tete’s promoters for delaying the fight.

“We are still negotiating with the promoters of Tete, and they decided to move it on April. We already pitched to handle the promotions of the fight but they wanted it more. For now they told us that the fight is on April but there’s no exact date and venue yet,” Aldeguer said.

Aldeguer also said they have yet to sign the contract because they still haven’t received it, which means everything seems to be hanging at the moment.

“It really sounds disappointing for Arthur Villanueva right now because he’s been training for this fight since last year. Right now we are waiting for
the contract to arrive and wait for their go signal.”

Villanueva had been training since September, following his scintillating knockout victory against Juan Jimenez of Mexico in a rematch held in US.

Villanueva (30-1-0, 16KOs) is the number one contender for Marlon Tapales’ WBO world bantamweight title. The winner of the planned Villanueva-Tete (24-3-0, 20KOs) fight gets a crack at Tapales’ world title./REPORTER GLENDALE G. ROSAL