Ringside Report: Boots Ennis Stomps out Roiman Villa in Ten

A capacity crowd inside the ballroom of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City saw Jaron “Boots” Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s) continue his quest to rise to the top of the welterweight division. Unfortunately for the tough-as-nails Roiman Villa (26-2, 24 KO’s), it was at his expense.

Villa, known as the pressure fighter coming in, found himself facing an opponent in the skilled Ennis who was more than happy to meet him at the center of the ring. By the end of the third round, both fighters were happy to stand in the pocket and try to establish their dominance.

Throughout the first five rounds, Ennis was able to control things, despite getting hit at times by the game Villa. Subtle inside movements by Ennis allowed him to roll away from incoming punches and counter effectively. After switching back and forth from an orthodox to a southpaw stance, Ennis landed a huge overhand right that buckled Villa. Luckily for Villa the bell sounded to end the sixth round, saving him as Ennis closed in to end the night.

Once the ringside doctor and Villa’s corner decided to let him continue, Ennis calmly continued to press forward, forcing Villa to fight off his back foot. This played right into Team Ennis’s strategy, since he was able to land huge power punches that almost forced the doctor to stop the fight in between rounds eight and nine. The ending would come at the 1:27 mark of the tenth round when Ennis was able to put together a sensational straight left hand and right hook combination that put Villa down, ending the fight.

“I want the winner of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford,” said Ennis in his post-fight interview. “Let’s make it happen. I’ll take on 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.”

Other Bouts

In middleweight action, Yoelvis Gomez (6-1, 5 KO’s) and Marquis Taylor (15-1-2, 1 KO) wasted no time exchanging power punches. Gomez seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges until Taylor landed an overhand right that dropped Gomez in the second round. Both fighters did good work on the inside and along the ropes. Once Gomez decided to march forward regardless of getting hit by Taylor, the action remained consistent with both fighters trying to establish control.

Round six was encouraging for Gomez after he landed some hard shots to the chest of Taylor, which slowed him down. After controlling the sixth, Gomez was caught on the chin by a counter right that momentarily stunned him as the bell rang. Both fighters settled into their approach of trying to take control of the fight, but it was Taylor who did enough to earn a ten round unanimous decision on scores of 99-90 and 96-93 twice.

Lightweights Joseph Adorno (17-3-2, 14 KO’s) and Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KO’s) got the action started on the live television portion of the night. Both fighters were hesitant to throw anything meaningful in the first two rounds but things heated up in the third and fourth with both fighters landing meaningful punches. De Los Santos started to settle in using his angles to control the range and land solid lefts as he took control of the fight at the halfway point.

Despite Adorno having some moments throughout the second half of the fight, it was De Los Santos’s constant movement and straight lefts that rendered any moments of success for Adorno ineffective in the grand scheme of things. De Los Santos was content with using a rinse-and-repeat approach throughout the rest of the fight much to the chagrin of the capacity crowd. Two judges had the fight 100-90, while the third scored it 99-91 in favor of De Los Santos.

Also….

Euri Cedeno (5-0, 5 KO’s), who worked with Jaron Ennis as one of his main sparring partners, had intense exchanges with William Townsel (5-1, 4 KO’s) until Cedeno landed a clean straight left that dropped Townsel. Townsel rose to his feet, but Cedeno was able to land a flurry that caused the referee to stop the fight at 1:41 in the first round.

Heavyweight Steven Torres (6-0-1, 6 KO’s) got a bit of revenge against James Evans (6-1-1, 6 KO’s) by winning via stoppage in the third round. Torres and Evans had previously fought to a draw and were in another exciting back-and-forth battle until Torres landed some heavy shots. With nothing coming back at him, the referee was forced to step in and stop the fight. The end came at 1:08 of the third.

Dwyke Flemmings Jr. (4-0, 4 KO’s) dominated and stopped Henry Rivera (2-1, 1 KO) at 1:57 of the third round, The bout was halted on the advice of the ringside doctor due to a cut Flemmings caused.

Ismail Muhammad, who fights under the Boots Promotions banner, improved to 2-0 (2 KO’s) after stopping Parker Bruno (0-2) in the third round. Muhammad dropped Bruno twice with straight lefts and the action was halted after Muhammad staggered him with a combination at the 1:45 mark of the third round.

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME

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