PINOY PRIDE XXVII: VILLANUEVA WINS

PINOY PRIDE XXVII: SERVANIA, VILLANUEVA, BAUTISTA WIN IN DUBAI

Villanueva vs Maldonado. 

In the other regional title fight, Arthur Villanueva captured the IBF International Jr Bantamweight Title by defeating Henry 'El Crespo' Maldonado of Nicaragua via split decision with scores of 117-110, 116-113 in favor Villanueva and 114-113 for Maldonado. After a quiet first round where both fighters had a feeling out of each other, an explosion of punches came out in the second round when Villanueva connected with a left-right combination that staggered the Nicaraguan. As Villanueva pursued, Maldonado unleashed a flurry of punches of his own that caught Villanueva and sent the Filipino to the canvas in a flash knockdown. When the fight resumed, a phone-booth battle ensued that put jampacked crowd at the edge of their seats. After the smoke of the 2nd round battle subsided, Villanueva, later admiting that Maldonado had hurt him, decided to box and transformed the fight into a battle of wits and attrition until the fight ended. Maldonado was cut in his scalp from the second round fireworks and later sustained multiple cuts in his forehead, eyebrows and the back of his head as the fight progressed. Villanueva has now improved his undefeated record to 26 wins with 14 knockouts while Maldonando dropped to 19-4-0.