By Craig Daly: Roiman Villa predicts an upset victory over IBF interim welterweight champion Jaron Ennis this Saturday night, July 8, on Showtime at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Villa (26-1, 24 KOs) came out of nowhere to defeat favorite Rashidi Ellis on January 7th.
This will be the 26-year-old Boots Ennis’ first big puncher, and it’ll be interesting to watch how he holds up under big punches from Villa. The last thing that Ennis can afford to do is overlook the powerful Venezuelan-born fighter.
With victory still fresh in his mind, Villa is ready to pull off an even bigger win against ‘Boots’ Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs), many views as the heir apparent to the dynamic duo Errol Spence Jr & Terence Crawford.
Villa insists that he will NOT fight afraid like Karen Chukhadzhian did last January by running from ‘Boots Ennis all night long for twelve rounds.
Roiman Villa’s last six opponents:
- Rashidi Ellis
- Janelson Figueroa Bocachica
- Andres Garcia
- Jesus Bravo
- Miguel Parro
- Nestor Armas
The card begins at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT on Showtime.
In the co-feature bout, middleweight talent Yoelvis Gómez fights Marquis Taylor in a ten-round contest.
Roiman pleased with underdog status
“I like it because he’s such an overwhelming favorite that I feel like people have me flying under the radar, and that’s just the way I like it,” said Roiman Villa to Fighthype about his match against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis this Saturday.
Can Roiman beat Ennis? Villa doesn’t mind being the underdog against Ennis, and that allows him to go into Saturday’s fight without any pressure on him. It’s the same situation that Villa was in for his last fight against Rashidi Ellis.
Everyone thought he would lose, and he came on late to drop the previously unbeaten contender twice to get the win.
“There are no big men. So I’m going to be ready to be up for the challenge, and he’s a quality fighter, but I’m looking forward to showing the fans what I’m capable of,” said Villa.
“First of all, I trust the preparation of the work that we’re putting in, and you know most of it. I don’t like to talk about fighters in what they do wrong.
“For me, it’s about what I do in the ring with my own two fists, and my style is going forward and attacking regardless of who is up against me and what their public perception is.
“I can’t contain myself. It’s in my blood. I need to fight like I were Mexican or Chino Maidana for an Argentinian example there. Aggressiveness is in my blood, and I’m going to go out there and follow my instinct because that’s just what I do.
“Look, it’s just the way I am. I can’t explain it, but what I can tell you is that, for example, in the Mayweather-Maidana fight where Maidana was very, very aggressive, and Mayweather was tactical. He didn’t let him do anything that he wanted to do,” said Villa.
It’s unclear what Villa learned from watching Floyd Mayweaather Jr’s wins against Marcos Maidana because he always fights the same. Mayweather arguably lost the first fight with Maidana but was given the victory anyway.
“It was kind of like trying to punch something that wasn’t there. I learned a lot from that fight where no matter how strong you are if someone doesn’t want to let you do what you want to do, you can’t just go forward and continue to be stubborn. You have to find different ways,'” said Villa.
Villa confident of victory over Ennis
“I’m going to pull off the upset. You couldn’t pay me even 10 million dollars to fight scared like that because what happened in the fight is that clearly fear paralyzes the best of them,” Villa said Karen Chukhadzhian, the last opponent for Jaron Ennis.
Will Roiman Villa survive for long if he slugs with Boots Ennis? Roiman could be better off if he does run from Ennis like Chukhadzhian because at least he’ll survive the early rounds.
“If you allow yourself to be paralyzed by fear, then that’s it,” said Villa. I can promise you that there is not a single ounce of me that’s willing to fight like that. I’m the total opposite.
“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 be scared, that would be disrespectful to the fans and a total waste of the preparation that I made for five months.
“If you’re going to fight like that, what’s the point? You got to go out there and be and be faithful to your convictions and my conviction is about going forward and being aggressive,” said Roiman.
