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Mike Coppinger, ESPN
Rising star Jaron “Boots” Ennis remained undefeated with a 10th-round KO of Roiman Villa on Saturday in a welterweight fight in Atlantic City, N.J.
Ennis (31-0, 18 KOs) dazzled with his ultra-quick hands and quick-twitch movement before he planted Villa on the canvas with a pair of punishing right hands followed by a chopping left.
Referee David Fields quickly waved off the PBC on Showtime headliner without a count nearly halfway through Round 10 to end the one-sided beating.
“I’m getting better,” said Ennis, ESPN’s No. 4 boxer at 147 pounds. ” … We gotta wait for Errol Spence and Bud [Terence Crawford] to fight and you know I want the winner of that.”
A matchup with the winner of the July 29 undisputed welterweight championship fight would deliver the sort of marquee opponent Ennis has been searching for. “Boots” also expressed interest in a meeting with Eimantas Stanionis, who was slated to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Saturday in a battle of top-5 welterweights (in ESPN’s rankings).
But in the meantime, Ennis handled Villa with ease, doling out punishment from the opening bell. Ennis, 26, was extended past Round 7 for just the second occasion, ample time to show off his impressive arsenal.
The Philadelphian mixed in lightning quick right hooks off his southpaw jab and made Villa look silly at times by evading his wide shots. By the end of Round 2, Villa’s nose was bleeding, but he never stopped coming forward.
The 30-year-Venezuelan was overmatched but proved to be game. Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) entered the ring on the heels of a career-best win, a majority-decision victory over Rashidi Ellis in January when he scored two knockdowns.
Villa, ESPN’s No. 10 welterweight, had never tasted the canvas in his pro career but Ennis’ volume of flush punches eventually took their toll.
Ennis buckled Villa’s legs in Round 6 with a series of right hands and had his foe in serious trouble for the final 30 seconds of the frame, but Villa was able to stay on his feet during the onslaught.
Ennis appeared to hurt Villa again in Round 7 with a left uppercut, a punch he used to inflict damage time and again. Over nine-and-a-half rounds, Ennis connected on 227 punches while Villa landed just 65.