Benedicto Villablanca (born July 13, 1957) is a former professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who came close to becoming

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

's first

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

world champion. Villablanca was born in Villarrica,

. He became interested in boxing as a child. He started visiting his local boxing gym, and had a stellar amateur career. At the age of 18, Villablanca started his career as a professional boxer, when he defeated Luis Conejeros by a decision in four rounds, on January 23, 1976, in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. Villablanca obtained his first

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

during his second fight, beating Luis Arriagada in the second round on February 20, also in Santiago. After two more victories, Villablanca was defeated for the first time, when he lost an eight-round decision to Juan Ule Castro on April 30, 1977 in Chiloé. He would lose his next fight, to Leopoldo Vargas, on May 7. After those two consecutive losses, Villablanca won one fight, then faced Vargas in a rematch, held on August 20, at

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

. Villablanca suffered his first knockout loss, being beaten by Vargas in the seventh round. After that loss, Villablanca embarked on a four fight winning streak. The first of those bouts, held on April 7, 1978, was for the Chilean Jr. Lightweight title. Villablanca became national champion by knocking Roberto Diaz out in the first round. On January 20, 1979, Villablanca had his first fight as a professional abroad, when he faced Victor Etchegaray for the South American Jr. Lightweight championship in

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. Villablanca lost to Etchegaray, then a world ranked challenger, by knockout in round eight. Back in Chile, Villablanca retained his Chilean Jr. Lightweight title with a victory over Diaz in a rematch, on March 3, 1979, by knockout in the eighth round. Like his first victory over Diaz, this represented the beginning of another four fight winning streak for Villablanca. He faced Etchegaray for the South American Jr. Lightweight title for a second time on June 8, 1980, losing by a seventh-round knockout in

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, Argentina. Villablanca then embarked in an eleven fight winning streak, which included a twelve-round decision over

Luis Bendezu Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

on August 7, 1981, which made him the WBA's Fedelatin Jr. Lightweight champion. The victory over Bendezu also allowed Villablanca to become a ranked challenger in the Jr. Lightweight division. He also defeated Raul Silva, who had come off back to back losses to

Eusebio Pedroza Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the World Boxing Association, WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any ...

and

Wilfredo Gómez Wilfredo Gómez RiveraJulio Hernandez, who had also lost to Gómez in a WBC world Super Bantamweight championship try, by knockout in round three, on February 2, 1982. After one more win, Villablanca had his first world title try. His fight against

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's Samuel Serrano, it could be said, was both the defining moment of Villablanca's career and one of the most controversial championship fights of the 1980s. On June 5 in Santiago, four months after his victory over Julio Hernandez, Villablanca challenged Serrano, for the WBA's world Jr. Lightweight title. Serrano started bleeding during round six, and the fight's referee declared that Serrano's cut was the product of a punch by Villablanca. When the fight was stopped in round eleven due to Serrano's cut, Villablanca was declared winner, and new WBA world Jr. Lightweight champion, by an eleventh-round knockout. For some period afterwards, Villablanca became a national hero among his countrymen and women, just like Martin Vargas had. Villablanca and his compatriots thought that Villablanca had earned Chile's first world boxing championship. Serrano's team appealed the fight's result, however, claiming that the cut on Serrano's head was caused by a headbutt, not a punch. The WBA then held an emergency meeting in

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, to review the fight's tapes. After studying the fight, WBA officials concluded that Serrano and his team were right and the cut was produced by a headbutt. The WBA took into account the fact that Serrano was ahead on the judges' scorecards and reversed the fight's result, giving Serrano an eleventh round technical decision win. It shall be mentioned that the WBA's ruling in this case disqualified Villablanca as world champion, so Villablanca is not, officially speaking, recognized as a former world boxing champion. After the disappointment of seeing his world champion status disappear, Villablanca returned to professional boxing with three consecutive victories, including a ten-round decision over Geronimo Luque. On August 17, 1983, Villablanca made his

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debut, when he challenged

Roger Mayweather Roger L. Mayweather (April 24, 1961 – March 17, 2020) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and later on a boxing trainer. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and ''The Ring'' super featherwe ...

for the WBA world Jr. Lightweight title that Mayweather had earned by knocking Serrano out in eight rounds at

. There would be no controversy this time around, however, as Villablanca was dropped twice before the fight ended just as the bell rang to finish round one, with Mayweather retaining the title by a first-round knockout. Villablanca announced his retirement from boxing after the fight, but he returned soon afterwards. In his first comeback fight, Villablanca faced Orlando Romero, losing a ten-round decision on January 14, 1984 in

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. On May 19, he fought in Peru once again, losing in a rematch with Geronimo Luque for the WBC Continental Americas Lightweight title in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, by a knockout in round seven. Villablanca won his next four bouts, but, after losing on December 20, 1985 to Ricardo Toledo by a knockout in three rounds in Santiago, he retired from professional boxing for good. Villablanca had a professional record of 34 wins and 11 losses in 45 fights, with 16 wins by knockout.boxer: Benedicto Villablanca
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villablanca, Benedicto 1957 births Living people Chilean male boxers People from Villarrica Sportspeople from Araucanía Region 20th-century Chilean sportsmen