Ruben Villa Pounds Out a Win and Other Results from Corona

Ruben Villa staged a one note samba on Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez and after 10 three-minute musical lessons ripped the WBO International title from the rugged featherweight fighter under threatening skies on Friday.

Villa (16-0, 5 KOs) peppered Lopez (17-2, 8 KOs) with jabs and pivots to demonstrate in front of the outdoor crowd at Omega Products International in Corona, Calif. that he’s ready for another level. The Thompson Boxing Promotions fight card was televised by Showtime.

Despite achieving Olympic alternate status in 2016, the monster promotion companies didn’t show the interest in Salina, California’s Villa when he turned pro. They’re probably re-thinking that oversight now.

Fighting out of his southpaw stance Villa discovered in the first round that Lopez was a human octopus flailing blows from every direction off of the wrong foot, sometimes leaping off the ground to deliver a punch. It could have been a perplexing problem for the young left-handed boxer.

But class was in session and Villa was playing his beats armed with a piston jab and pounding shots to the body. Lopez quickly discovered his style was terribly wrong for chasing this young maestro but he tried until the bitter end.

No knockdowns were scored by all three judges who saw it for Villa 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 who now owns the regional featherweight title. It was a solo show for Villa.

Dutchover

Texas lightweight Michael Dutchover (13-0, 10 KOs) discovered that his scheduled opponent was unable to fight. So an unknown Filipino fighter Rosekie Cristobal (15-3, 11 KOs) was inserted and like most Filipinos that come to the US, he was a southpaw with pop. It didn’t matter to the Texan.

Cristobal attacked first but discovered Dutchover possessed some slippery moves and though most expected a long tough fight, the contest ended quickly. Dutchover slipped a blow and countered with a left hook to the ribs and down went Cristobal for the count of 10 at 1:46 of the first round. Dutchover had won by knockout. It was his fifth consecutive KO.

Sanchez

A bantamweight fight saw Saul Sanchez (12-0, 7 KOs) engage in a tough scrap with lean Mexican fighter Brandon Benitez (14-2, 6 KOs) for seven back and forth rounds before lowering the boom. A clean right cross shook Benetiz forcing referee Raul Caiz Jr. to step in and stop the match although the Mexican fighter never hit the floor. Still, Benitez had been absorbing big blows and could have been hurt severely. The fight ended at 18 seconds of the eighth round. Sanchez now holds the WBO Latino bantamweight title.

Other Bouts

Petr Petrov (40-6-2) knocked out Ruben Tamayo (27-13-4) in the second round of their super lightweight fight.

Stephen Acosta (1-0) beat Jose Lopez Melendez (0-4-1) by decision after four super flyweight rounds.

Photo credit: Dave Mandel / Showtime

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