WITH the schedule and venue finally set, ALA Boxing Gym’s “King” Arthur Villanueva has vowed to beat world No. 2 ranked bantamweight Zolane Tete of South Africa when they collide this April 8 in an eliminator bout at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Villanueva, who’s been training since December can’t help to hide his excitement to fight in England for the first time and earn another world title shot. The world title eliminator was initially set this month but due to some problems onthe part of Tete’s African promoters, it was moved twice.
If Villanueva wins over Tete, he will earn a shot at the WBO World Bantamweight title currently held by Filipino Marlon Tapales who is scheduled to defend it against Shohei Omori of Japan also this April in Kyoto, Japan.
The 28-year old Villanueva of Bago City, Negros Occidental, the reigning WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight champion told CDN that his training was not affected by the changes in the fight schedule but instead helped him to further hone his preparations.
Tete is a former IBF world super flyweight champion.
“Right now I’m in great shape and in top condition because I have a long training camp. I am very excited to fly to England,” Villanueva said. “For me it’s going to be a very difficult fight knowing that Tete fought and won a world title before but that won’t matter to me because I’ve trained very hard for this fight.”
Villanueva first fought and lost for a world crown in 2015 when he battled McJoe Arroyo in the United States for the then vacant IBF world super flyweight title.
He rebounded by winning three straight fights to improve his record to 30 wins with 16 knockouts and a loss while Tete, a two time world champion has 24 wins including 20 knockouts with three setbacks.
When asked about the possibility of fighting Tapales for the WBO Bantamweight title, Villanueva said that he has not given that much thought yet as he is focused on his upcoming fight with Tete.
“I’m thinking about how to beat Tete, I’ve been watching his fight in the internet so that we can come up with a strategy to beat him,” added Villanueva.
Villanueva said the next one month of training will focus more on sparring and conditioning. He said they plan to fly to England a week before the fight.