By Vince D’Writer: On Saturday night, July 8th, welterweight contender Roiman Villa will attempt to score a third straight upset victory as he will face the IBF interim titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs) at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott)
For a significant amount of time, Ennis has had both Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford on his radar. Ennis has been waiting for his chance to share the ring with one of the two premier welterweight stars, and he is hopeful that a win on Saturday night will put him in a position to face the Spence-Crawford winner.
Before Jaron Ennis can focus on Spence and Crawford, he must first give his July 8th opponent Roiman Villa his complete and undivided attention. Back in January 2023, Ennis fought in the co-feature bout of the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia event. Also on the fight card was the previously undefeated welterweight contender Rashidi “Speedy” Ellis.
Prior to his bout against Roiman Villa, Speedy Ellis was calling out Jaron Ennis. During the final presser, Ellis and Ennis had a heated verbal exchange as they were looking forward to fighting each other in the near future.
On the night of January 7th, Speedy Ellis assumed he would take care of business against Roiman Villa and then move on to Jaron Ennis, but unfortunately for Ellis, things didn’t go according to plan. During the first half of the bout, Ellis was fast and elusive, but in the second half of the contest, Ellis started to fade.
In the 12th and final round of the fight, Villa landed a big left hook that sent Ellis down to the canvas. Ellis was able to get up, but in the final seconds of the round, Villa scored a second knockdown.
Ellis beat the count as the final round ended, and the fight went to the judge’s scorecards. After all of the numbers were tallied, the underdog Roiman Villa was awarded the upset victory over Rashidi Ellis by the scores of 113-113, 114-112, and 114-112.
Now the Venezuelan boxer Roiman Villa (26-1, 24 KOs) will attempt to upset another rising star in the welterweight division. Villa was successful as he defeated and took 0’s from Janelson Bocachica and Rashidi Ellis, but his undefeated July 8th opponent Jaron Ennis is a next-level boxer who has all the tools.
Ennis is a talented fighter who can fight inside or outside, plus he has speed, power, and a high ring IQ. The 30-year-old Roiman Villa is a tough, hard-hitting fighter who is confident in his abilities, and he’s determined to win.
The last time the 26-year-old Jaron “Boots” Ennis competed inside the squared circle, his opponent Karen Chukhadzhian was reluctant in regards to engaging. It appeared as if, instead of trying to win, Chukhadzhian was satisfied with surviving for twelve rounds.
Styles make fights, and this July 8th fight should be an exciting matchup due to the fact that Roiman Villa is adamant about pressing forward and being aggressive. Unlike Chukhadzhian, Villa doesn’t plan on showing up to survive. He wants to fight off the front foot and do whatever it takes in order to pull off a massive upset.
“I’ve been preparing for the past four or five months. If I were to go in there and just run around the ring and being scared, that would be disrespectful to the fans and a total waste of the preparation that I’ve made for four or five months because if you’re going to fight like that then what’s the point?” Villa stated during an interview with FightHype.
The upset-minded Villa would go on to say, “You got to go out there and be faithful to your convictions, and my convictions are about going forward and being aggressive.”
Roiman Villa is a fighter who has one gear, and that gear is an aggressive gear. His style of fighting is very fan friendly, but is it wise to utilize a pressure type of style against a boxer the caliber of Boots Ennis? On the other hand, if Roiman Villa is able to make Ennis feel uncomfortable fighting off the back foot and land something significant, how will Ennis respond to the pressure and punching power of Villa?
The bout between Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Roiman Villa is an intriguing matchup that poses many interesting questions, but all the answers will be delivered on Saturday night, July 8th, live on Showtime.
