Ennis on Villa fight: 'You all going to see a legendary performance'
Interim welterweight title bout headlines Showtime tripleheader
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Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who is universally viewed as one of boxing’s best young fighters — a potential star with pound-for-pound talent — smiles when asked what people should expect to see from him when he makes his first defense of the IBF interim welterweight title.
“You all going to see a legendary performance,” Ennis told Fight Freaks Unite. “I’m ready to beat him up, rip him up and send him home and make a big statement and get a knockout.”
Ennis was speaking of rugged challenger Roiman Villa, whom he will square off with in the in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Saturday (Showtime, 9:30 p.m. ET) at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Ennis, who is from nearby Philadelphia, will be the crowd favorite.
“I feel like his style is perfect for me,” Ennis said. “It’s gonna be a beautiful show. I can’t wait. He’s coming forward with pressure, don’t move his head. He’s gonna have a long night.”
Or a short night perhaps, given that the 26-year-old Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs) has knocked out virtually all of is opponents. But he did not score a knockout in his last fight, when he was forced to go past the sixth round for the first time by unknown huge underdog Karen Chukhadzhian on Jan. 7 on the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia Showtime PPV card in Washington, D.C.
Ennis won by shutout (120-108 on all three scorecards) to claim on the vacant interim belt though most expected him to get rid of Chukhadzhian early. But the challenger spent much of the fight moving and refusing to engage. The few times that he did, he showed a good chin.
Ennis took some mild criticism for the performance even if it is difficult to be too harsh given that he handily won every second. He found the silver lining in the win beyond claiming the interim belt.
“It was good that I went 12 rounds,” Ennis said. “I learned a lot of things from that fight. It was an OK performance. I coulda done a lot of things better, coulda been sharper, gone to the body a little earlier.”
In another undercard fight prior to Ennis’, Villa outpointed then-undefeated Rashidi Ellis but had a much tougher time than Ennis had. Villa (26-1, 24 KOs), 30, of Venezuela, needed two 12th-round knockdowns to eke out a majority decision — 114-112 on two scorecards and 113-113 — in an IBF welterweight title elimination fight
Ennis said he saw some of the fight on a monitor in his dressing room as he was warming up for his own bout but has since taken a closer look at it.
“I’m not Rashidi Ellis. I’m a whole different animal,” Ennis said. “I got a whole lot of tools I’m gonna use. Roiman Villa is a good fighter but he just comes forward, no defense, throws big hooks, no jabs. There’s a lot of things we’ve seen. We’ll be ready.
“My goal is to get a knockout. I want him his team to throw in the towel in. I want one of those performances.”
Despite Ennis’ record and reputation, Villa said he did hesitate to accept the fight when it was offered.
“When you get an opportunity to fight a world class fighter like Ennis, you have to take that chance,” Villa said though an interpreter. “It’s my duty to go after the toughest challenges and take advantage of opportunities like this. I’m not afraid of anybody.
“I’ve had five months of preparation for this fight. Regardless of all of that, my faith is all I need. I’ve got power, but with my faith in the right place, everything will go the way we’ve planned. When I fought Rashidi Ellis, I was over the moon with the result and now I’m here for another challenge.”
Ennis has struggled to get top opponents to face him but he hopes somebody will answer the call if he beats Villa. He named fighters such as former titleholders Keith Thurman and Yordenis Ugas — who are likely to fight each other later this year — as guys he’d like to face. He also mentioned WBA “regular” titlist Eimantas Stanionis, whose fight on Saturday night on another card was canceled when Vergil Ortiz suffered a medical issue earlier in the week that forced him out of the fight.
And, of course, Ennis has eyes for the winner of the mega fight for the undisputed welterweight title between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, who meet on July 29 (Showtime PPV). As IBF interim titleholder, Ennis is already a mandatory challenger for unified titlist Spence.
“There’s a lot of great fights we can make,” Ennis said. “Hopefully, we can make these fights happen because I’m tired of waiting around for these guys. I’m the last resort for a guy to fight. It’s a sign of respect a little bit too. At the end of the day, they got to see me and we’re gonna meet soon, all these guys at 147.”
With Spence and Crawford having a two-fight deal and both of them likely headed for junior middleweight once their business with each other is done, Ennis would seem unlikely to land a fight with either of them. But his goal is the belts, not necessarily a specific opponent.
“They got a rematch clause but hopefully I’ll be able to fight one of those guys or the winner and collect all the belts and move to 154,” Ennis said. “That’s the goal — to fight all the top guys.
“I’m gonna keep, keep knocking these guys out and the fans will keep asking for (the bigger fights). That’s the best way. I don’t really talk too much. I do all my talking in the ring.”
On the undercard
Showtime also will air two other bouts:
Middleweight Yoelvis Gomez (6-0, 5 KOs), 24, a Cuban southpaw, who is trained by newly inducted Hall of Famer Joe Goossen in Los Angeles, will face Houston’s Marquis Taylor (14-1-2, 1 KO), 29, in the 10-round co-feature.
Lightweight Edwin De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs), 23, a Dominican southpaw, will face Joseph Adorno (17-2-2, 14 KOs), 24, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the 10-round opener. De Los Santos is coming off an impressive third-round knockout of then-unbeaten Jose Valenzuela in September on the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Luis Ortiz undercard. Adorno is coming off a 10-round majority decision loss to Elvis Rodriguez on Showtime in February.
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Ennis-Villa photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime
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