Ennis retains title with domination of Villa in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, NJ — IBF interim welterweight champion Jaron Ennis dominated Roiman Villa, handing him his second career loss with a 10th-round TKO Saturday night at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) won every round on the scorecards of all three judges except the fifth, and remained in complete control from the opening bell to the stoppage.
“My dad (trainer Bozy Ennis) wanted me to throw more body shots and give him more angles and not stand in front of him,” said Ennis. “I was getting hit with shots I wasn’t supposed to get hit with.”
In continuing to assess his performance, Ennis gave credit to Villa, who fought courageously in defeat.
“I was breaking (Villa) down and I came out victorious,” said Ennis. “I knew he was a tough kid. I just had to be smart and take my time and keep touching and touching, and eventually, I was going to get him. I was setting him up.”
The 28-year-old 2015 U.S. National Golden Gloves light-welterweight champion from Philadelphia recapped closing out his opponent.
“I hit him with a big left hand and I knew he was going down,” Ennis said. “ I was waiting for the left shot and I threw a hook and I knew he was going, so I just threw one more and that was it. I knew they were going to stop it.”
As is customary for all leading boxing contenders, Ennis called out the sport’s best welterweights after his win.
“I want the winner of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford,” he declared. “Let’s make it happen. I’ll take on (current WBA regular welterweight champion) Eimantas Stanionis in a heartbeat. I want to get into the ring one more time before the end of the year to make it three fights. Stanionis, Keith Thurman, Yordenis Ugas—all the top guys out there. Let’s make these fights happen.”
In Las Vegas on Saturday at UFC 290, Alexander Volkanovski retained his UFC featherweight championship with a TKO of Yair Rodríguez. Alexandre Pantoja captured the UFC flyweight championship in an action-packed matchup that went the distance and saw Moreno break his hand in the loss.
Dricus du Plessis knocked out former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the second round. Current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya entered the octagon after the fight, and he and du Plessis should face each other soon.
Jon Jones will defend his UFC heavyweight championship for the first time against former champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 on Saturday, November 11, at Madison Square Garden. Jones is a former UFC light heavyweight champion who moved up in weight class.
This Saturday, Alycia Baumgardner will defend her WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA, IBO, and the Ring female super-featherweight titles against Christina Linardatou in Detroit. The following Saturday will see arguably the most compelling matchup since Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao clashed in 2015 when undefeated unified WBC, WBA, and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence battles undefeated WBO Welterweight Champion Terence “Bud” Crawford on July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime PPV.
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