By ADRIAN STEWART CO 

Negros Occidental’s Bago City-native fighters Joepher Montaño and Arthur Villanueva scored separate stoppage victories at the RCA Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand over the weekend.

Montaño defended his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Oriental welterweight championship for the first time after a sixth round stoppage victory over Pakistani fighter Muhammad Bilal.

Montaño, dubbed as “El Gwapito,” showed his punching accuracy in the first few rounds with his accurate left and right combinations that stunned Bilal, a known knockout artist.

Bilal also had his moments in the championship clash as he unloaded several combinations, but Montaño answered with cracking punches that forced the referee to stop the match with two minutes left in the sixth round.

The WBO Oriental belt is the second welterweight division championship won by the 27-year-old Negrense boxer after previously winning the Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) version of the crown.

With the victory, Montaño increased his boxing record to 16 wins, five losses and two draws, including 14 victories by way of knockouts, while Bilal saw his record dropped to 11-4-1, with nine stoppage wins.

Meanwhile, Villanueva hacked out a fourth round technical knockout victory over Thailand boxer Chatre Buakaewdee for his third consecutive stoppage triumph in the co-main event.

Villanueva, a former world boxing championship challenger, improved his record to a 35-4-1 win-loss-draw with 20 knockout victories, while the Thai fighter suffered his first defeat after winning his debut bout.

On the other hand, Ador Torres (9-4-1, six KOs) has successfully defended his ABF welterweight championship following a second round knockout victory over Thai fighter Sakda Langkabam (4-2-0, four KOs).

Filipina boxer Wenie Cline Verano (10-0-0, seven KOs) maintained her unbeaten record following a sixth round technical knockout win over Thai boxer Monthawee Srisongkhram (2-2-0, one KO) on the undercard./ASC, WDJ