Fight Night: Sat, Jul 08, 2023 - Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ

Jaron Ennis vs Roiman Villa

Jaron “Boots” Ennis improves to 31-0 (28 KOs) and retains his Interim IBF Welterweight Title following an impressive performance over a rugged Roiman Villa that ended in a 10th-round highlight-reel knockout in the main event.
Ennis vs Villa Round by Round Fight Summary. Rounds are displayed numerically as columns. Each row will display one of the following: W for win, L for loss, KO for knockout, or TKO for technical knock out. An empty column means that data is not available.
Fighter Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Ennis No data available No data available No data available No data available
Villa No data available No data available No data available No data available

In front of a friendly crowd not far from his Philadelphia home, Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) stayed in control early and often against the game Villa (26-2, 24 KOs), dominating early with his jabs before brutalizing Villa with power punches across the middle rounds.

Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

After closely-fought rounds three through five, Ennis hurt Villa for the first time in round six, staggering him badly with an overhand right. Villa showed the fortitude that earned him a high spot in the welterweight rankings to continue throwing and survive the round but appeared to lose some of his early power after that shot.

“I was breaking him down and I came out victorious,” said Ennis. “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. I was setting him up.”

Ennis continued to hammer away in rounds seven and eight, sending blood flying from Villa with numerous snapping shots. Villa received long looks from the ringside doctor after rounds seven and eight but continued to sojourn forward in hopes of changing the tide. After a slower-paced round nine, Ennis closed the fight in style early in round 10, landing a vicious one-two that put Villa tumbling to the mat as referee David Fields stopped the bout 1:27 into the round.

“I hit him with a big left hand and I knew he was going down,” said Ennis. “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.”

Ennis, who dominated the CompuBox stats, including a 164 to 57 edge in power shots, stated his intention to continue to stay active against the top fighters in the star-studded welterweight division.

“I want the winner of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford,” said Ennis. “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.”