Jaron Ennis stops Villa in 10; Retains Interim Welterweight Title
ATLANTIC CITY — Jaron Ennis retained the IBF Interim Welterweight title with a 10th round stoppage over Roiman Villa at The Adrian Phillips Ballroom inside Jim Whalen Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The fight started off with Ennis showing his superior ability that featured his hand-speed as he landed big shots from both the orthodox and southpaw stance. The effects of Ennis’ work were evident as early as round two, as blood began to leak from the nose of Villa. Ennis continued to draw oohs and ahhs from the fans as he landed some eye catching shots. Villa showed a tremendous chin as he was rocked several times, but was sturdy on his feet. Villa tried to fight back valiantly and even got some hard right hands and mixed in a couple scoring uppercuts.
Ennis really started pouring on the fire in rounds eight and nine as his assault had Villa fortunate to get out of the rounds. The ringside doctor checked Villa after each frame and decided to let the fight continue. That would last only 87 seconds into round 10 as Ennis landed a hard chopping left hand that was followed by a pinpoint right that finally sent Villa to the canvas and the fight was stopped.
Ennis of Philadelphia is now 31-0 with 28 knockouts. Villa of Venezuela is now 26-2.
JARON ENNIS
“My performance was good. I could have listened to my corner a little more. My dad wanted me to do more body shots and more angles and not stand in front of him. I was getting hit with shots I wasn’t supposed to get hit with.
“I appreciate Villa taking this fight. Hats off to him and his family. I appreciate him for coming in and being a warrior. Let’s give it up for Villa. He’s a tough guy.
“I was breaking him down and I came out victorious. 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.
“We got to wait for Errol Spence and Bud to fight and you know I want the winner of that fight.
“I was setting him up. I hit him with a big left hand and I knew he was going down. So 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.
“Spence-Crawford is a great fight, a 50-50 fight, may the best man win. And Jaron “Boots” Ennis wants the winner of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford. Let’s make it happen.
“I’ll take Stanionis. Virgil Ortiz fell out so I’ll take Stanionis in a heartbeat. I want to get into the ring one more time before the end of the year to make it three. Stanionis, Keith Thurman, Ugas, Bud, Spence, all the top guys out there. Let’s make these fights happen.”
Marquis Taylor Decisions Yoelvis Gomez
Marquis Taylor won a 10-round unanimous decision over Yoelvis Gomez in a middleweight fight.
Taylor scored a knockdown in round two when he landed a right hand to the side of the head that put Gomez down on the canvas. Taylor continued to beat Gomez to the punch and worked the body well. Gomez tried to make a stand late by attempting to land power shots, but they were not effective.
Taylor landed 160 of 712 punches. Gomez was 120 of 549.
Taylor, 158 lbs of Galena Park, TX won by scores of 99-91 and 96-93 twice and is now 15-1-2. Gomez, 159 lbs of Las Vegas is 6-1.
MARQUIS TAYLOR
“Only through God’s grace am I able to do this. I want to thank everyone who put this together. Mom we did it.
“This is what I wanted to do my whole life. It took me a long time and a lot of battles to make it here. But it was all worth it.
“I proved to myself that I can be in here with anyone and overcome and prevail.
“This is my second weight class in nine months. I proved it to myself. It’s not about the weight. It’s about skill and hard work and trusting my team.
“I was working inside and staying close and boom. Luckily when he threw his shot he kind of fell off balance and I helped him.
“At first I’m not going to lie at the beginning of the fight it was hard because he’s really strong. He was doing what he’s supposed to do and that’s use his weight and push me down, so I had to get into his midsection and break him down, so I started tapping that belly and pushing in.
“I knew the safest space to be with him was inside. Outside he has crazy power so I had to cut it off and smother him so that’s what I did. I really hope to be back on here [on SHOWTIME] and give the fans what they pay for.
“After I dropped him I was like, okay, the body shots are going to get to him and I knew I had to keep him moving back. I’m going to keep him on his heels. He’s kind of a bully in the ring and bullies don’t like to be pushed back like that.
“I started to get him to second guess himself which took away his confidence in throwing power shots. It’s dangerous when a power puncher has a lot of confidence because you can make only so many shots miss. Some will get through.
“We’re fighting at 154 and 160 to keep the window of opportunity as wide as possible. Right now we’re calling myself a two-weight division fighter.
“Tim Tszyu – if he wants to stay busy I’ll fight him. Because he’s not going to get that Jermell Charlo fight because of Canelo. I would like to fight him or anyone in the top 5 or top 10 at 160. It’s time for me to fight the best.”
YOELVIS GOMEZ
“Of course I’m frustrated. The ref kept getting in the way and wouldn’t let me work in the range I wanted, short distance and making Taylor feel me. This is professional boxing. It’s not too much to ask for him to let me go do my job.
“I lost my balance when I got knocked down. He threw his punch trying to see if it landed and I got caught. I hurt him too, but I couldn’t take him down.
“I know that my team is sad right now, but I refuse to mope or hang my head. I’m going to keep working hard and come back even better. You can count on that.”
De Los Santos Decisions Adorno
Edwin De Los Santos won a 10-round unanimous decision over Joseph Adorno in a lightweight bout.
De Los Santos landed 144 of 470 punches; Adorno was just 37 of 240.
De Los Santos, 133.1 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR won by scores of 100-90 twice and 99-91 and is now 16-1. Adorno, 135 lbs of Allentown, PA is 17-3-2.
EDWIN DE LOS SANTOS
“Adorno came to basically survive in this fight. We came prepared to show our boxing skills in this fight tonight.
“I can’t tell you all the tricks we did in training. But we did a lot of hills, climbing, swimming, a lot of boxing, sparring. Again, I don’t want to reveal all of the secrets but that’s some of what was done for this fight.
“I have the potential to be more disciplined and to do more boxing and wait for the big names.
“I have to just talk to my promoter (about what’s next). But I don’t care. Anyone at 135 I’ll take care of.”
JOSEPH ADORNO
“The strategy was to box him, but he’s a southpaw and he was hard to figure out. He’s the best southpaw I’ve faced. He was well-prepared and knew how to manage the ring.
“Moving down in weight did play into my performance a little, but I really don’t want to make any excuses. I shouldn’t have taken this fight right away, I should have fought at 137-pounds first. It is what it is though, he was the better man. He did his job.”
Euri Cedeno demolished William Townsel inside of a round in their scheduled eight-round battle of undefeated middleweights.
Cedeno came out and threw some vicious power punches and dropped Townsel with a hard left hand. Cedeno jumped on Townsel and landed some more hard shots and the fight was stopped as Townsel was dropped again at 1:41.
Cedeno, 159 lbs of La Romana, DR is 5-0 with five knockoouts. Townsel, 157.5 lbs of Virginia Beach is 5-1.
Heavyweight Steven Torres remained undefeated with a third round stoppage of James Evans in a rematch of a draw that took place 19 months ago.
In round three, Torres battered Evans against the ropes until the bout was stopped at 1:08.
Torres, 239 lbs of Reading, PA is 6-0-1 with six knockouts. Evans, 225.5 lbs of Toledo, OH is 6-1-1.
Dwyke Flemmings Jr. remained undefeated by stopping Henry Rivera in round three of a scheduled four round super welterweight bout.
In round two, Rivera began to bleed from the nose. Flemmings continued to beat up a game Rivera until the bout was stopped at 1:57 of round three.
Ismail Muhmmad stopped Parker Bruno in round three of a scheduled four-round super lightweight bout.
In round two, Muhammad was credited with a knockdown after landing a right hook that made Bruno’s globe touch the canvas. Later in the round, Muhammad dropped Bruno with a straight left hand. In round three, Muhammad continued to batter a Bruno, whose nose was bloody and the bout was stopped at 1:45.
Muhmmad, 143 lbs of Philadelphia is 2-0 with two knockouts. Bruno, 141 lbs of Clear Lakes, TX is 0-2.