José Luis "Cely" Villanueva (March 19, 1913 – November 11, 1983) was an amateur boxer from the Philippines who represented his country at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Born in Binondo, Manila, he won the bronze medal in the bantamweight class after winning the fight for third place against Joseph Lang.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | José Luis Villanueva | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Cely | ||||||||||||||
| Born | March 19, 1913 Binondo, Manila | ||||||||||||||
| Died | November 11, 1983 (aged 70) Kamuning, Quezon City | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Boxing | ||||||||||||||
| University team | FEU | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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His son, Anthony Villanueva, also became a boxer, and won a silver medal during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Amateur career
editAt the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Villanueva claimed the Philippines its first Olympic medal in boxing.[1] He gained a bye and bested Japan's Akira Nakao in the quarterfinals. However, his run was cut short after he fell to eventual gold medalist Horace Gwynne of Canada in their semifinal clash. He closed out his campaign with a victory over USA's Joseph Lang in the bronze medal match.[2]
1932 Olympic results
editBelow are the results of boxer José Villanueva who competed for the Philippines as a bantamweight at the 1932 Olympic boxing tournament in Los Angeles:
- Round of 16: bye
- Quarterfinal: defeated Akira Nakao (Japan) on points
- Semifinal: lost to Horace Gwynne (Canada) on points
- Bronze Medal Bout: won by walkover over Joseph Lang (USA)
Professional career
editAfter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Villanueva turned pro.[3] There are no records of how his professional boxing career went.[4]
Later life
editVillanueva later on became a boxing trainer. One of his trained fighters was Gabriel Elorde who won a world 130-pound title and held it for seven years. His son, Anthony Villanueva, also became a boxer, and won a silver medal during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was one of his son's first trainers.[5] To this day, they are the only Filipino father-and-son duo to win Olympic medals.[6] He also worked as a Malacañang employee until the early 70s.[7]
Villanueva died of a heart attack in 1983. [8]
Legacy
editIn 2010, Villanueva and his son Anthony were inducted as part of the Philippine Sports Commission's first batch for their Hall of Fame.[9] In 2021, they were inducted into Far Eastern University's Sports Hall of Fame.[10]
References
edit- ^ "LIST: Philippine boxing medalists in the Olympics". GMA News Online. August 8, 2024. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Leongson, Randolph B. (July 28, 2021). "Philippines has multiple medalists in an Olympic meet for the first time since 1932". Spin.ph. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ "VILLANUEVA TO TURN PROFESSIONAL BOXER". Tribune. September 24, 1932. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ "Remembering past Filipino Olympic heroes". SunStar Publishing Inc. July 28, 2024. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Eddie Alinea (May 18, 2014). "Remembering Anthony Villanueva". Manila Standard Today. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
- ^ Henson, Joaquin M. (July 29, 2012). "Celebrating the 26 Greatest Filipino Olympians". Philstar.com. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Alinea, Eddie G. (October 10, 2017). "How Villanueva gifted PH its first Olympic silver medal". Retrieved September 2, 2024 – via PressReader.
- ^ Joaquin Henson (May 18, 2014). "Olympic hero interred today". The Philippine Star. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
- ^ "New PSC Sports Museum celebrates Philippine Sporting Greats". Yahoo News. May 29, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Bacnis, Justine (September 21, 2021). "FEU opens doors of physical Sports Hall of Fame room". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
External links
edit- José Villanueva at Olympedia
- José Villanueva at databaseOlympics.com at the Wayback Machine (archived March 14, 2007)
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "José Luis Villanueva". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- "REMEMBERING THE GLORY YEARS - Hall of Fame Launched in Historic Rites" at the Wayback Machine (archived September 5, 2010)
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