Atlantic City – In a welterweight showdown for the interim-IBF title, Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) broke down, dropped and stopped Roiman Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) in the tenth round.
Villa was coming off some big upset wins, including his tough split decision to take away the undefeated record of Rashidi Ellis.
Ennis broke Villa down, round after round, until a combination of hard punches put Villa down hard in the tenth round – which forced the referee to wave off the fight.
The unbeaten puncher was pleased with his performance but believes he could have done better.
“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,” Ennis said.
“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.
“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.”
Ennis would love to take a fight with WBA ‘regular’ champion Eimantas Stanionis, who was scheduled to fight on Saturday night in Texas, but his fight fell through a few days prior when Vergil Ortiz was hospitalized with an illness.
“I’ll take Stanionis. Vergil 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,” Ennis said.