Welterweight contender Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) knocked out Roiman Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) at 1:27 of the 10th round of a scheduled 12-rounder.
Ennis, one of the most gifted fighters in the world, dominated Villa from the outset. He fought behind a long jab and picked Villa apart with hard, accurate punches from distance most of the fight.
In the process, he gradually broke down a durable fighter before finally ending the fight inside the distance.
The beginning of the end was a straight left to the chin from Ennis that hurt Villa. He followed with a right, which caused Villa to fall to the canvas just as referee David Fields was jumping between them.
Fields evidently had made up his mind to stop the fight. He did so with a badly beaten, worn down Villa sitting on the canvas.
You can read a full report here.
***
Marquis Taylor (15-1-2, 1 KOs) dropped and outworked Yoelvis Gomez (6-1, 5 KOs) to win an upset unanimous decision in a 10-round 160-pound fight.
The official scores were 99-90, 96-93 and 96-93.
Taylor, a slick, awkward fighter from Houston, was busier than Gomez from the outset and was difficult for the Cuban prospect to hit cleanly, which allowed him to frustrate Gomez much of the fight.
The biggest punch of the fight came in Round 2, when a right from Taylor put Gomez down for the first time in his career.
Gomez rallied late in the fight, picking up his pace and landing many of his best shots in last few rounds. However, he couldn’t dig himself out of the deep hole he was in.
***
Lightweight contender Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) outclassed Joseph Adorno (17-3-2, 14 KOs), winning a near-shutout decision in a 10-round bout.
The official scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91, meaning the 23-year-old Dominican lost only one round on one card.
De Los Santos has now won three in a row since losing a split decision to William Foster III in January of last year.
***
Jaron Ennis is scheduled to face fellow welterweight contender Roiman Villa tonight (Saturday) at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (Showtime).
The featured bouts on the card begin at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and other featured bouts immediately after they end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – a fight story, analysis and more – will follow on separate posts the day of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
[lawrence-related id=38006,38003,35030,37991,35027]