Jaron Ennis Picks Villa Apart! Marquis Taylor Dominates Yoelvis Gomez!
It was obvious to even the average boxing fan that the offensive versatility of Jaron “Boots” Ennis (31-0, 28KO) would be a serious problem for Roiman Villa (26-2, 24KO).
As the fighter from Venezuela is more known for his knockout power than his defense and footwork, he was a literal punching bag early. Make no mistake, Villa displayed an excellent chin given the amount of damage he was taking round after round.
The dominance of Ennis got to the point where he started toying with his food. The result was some good toe-to-toe action in the middle rounds that saw Villa land some big shots. However, this only helped display how good of a chin Ennis possesses while he continued to land at will even after getting hit.
In rounds six and seven, Villa was on the cusp of getting stopped. His offense slowed down as the damage to his face became very noticeable. Meanwhile, Boots maintained his output while his power carried over to each round. Having never tasted the canvas as a pro, Villa somehow stayed on his feet despite the heavy shots he repeatedly ate.
Then in the tenth round, an overhand left followed by an uppercut finally put Villa down! The referee immediately stopped the fight as he made it clear to the Venezuelan’s corner prior to the round that he needed to show something in order to keep him from ending the bout. Ennis was exceptional in this bout and given his skill-set, looked borderline unbeatable!
YOELVIS GOMEZ VS MARQUIS TAYLOR
This fight was filled with holding, rabbit punches and inaccurate punching from both men. Yoelvis Gomez (6-1, 5KO) was expected to showcase another knockout victory against the unorthodox, feather-fisted Marquis Taylor (15-1-2, 1KO).
Despite being geared up to be another knockout victim, Taylor controlled the fight early with the overhand right. He often threw this punch after coming out of a clinch. In the second round, it would be Gomez that saw the canvas for the first time in his career. After breaking out of a clinch, he ate an overhand right that took his legs from beneath him.
Gomez recovered quickly from the knockdown, but his game-plan was on life support. The herky-jerky style of Taylor had the Cuban baffled all night. It got to the point where easy opportunities to counter were missed by Gomez because he couldn’t figure out his opponent’s style. By the middle rounds, the Cuban constantly looked to land one big punch while throwing any kind of defense he might have out the window. Meanwhile, Taylor kept his volume up and repeatedly tagged his foe in between exchanges.
Sensing he could be losing the fight, Gomez started to apply relentless pressure late. With his volume increased and putting Taylor more on his back-foot, he hoped one of his shots would flat-line the Houston native. Though this may have won him most of the latter rounds, the early lead Taylor built rejected the comeback attempt. In the end, Taylor received a much-deserved upset victory by unanimous decision.
EDWIN DE LOS SANTOS VS JOSEPH ADORNO
Dominican hard-hitter Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14KO) splashed on the scene with a knockout victory over top prospect Jose Valenzuela in September 2022 as a late replacement opponent. The flashy fighter exuded nothing but confidence en route to a wide unanimous decision victory over respected contender Joseph Adorno (17-3-2, 14KO).
The difference in hand-speed and power was evident from the start! Adorno is known as a low-volume, counter puncher as he typically looks to setup his powerful left-hook. This made it easy for De Los Santos to overwhelm his opponent with quick combinations. The power from these shots would temporarily paralyze Adorno which gave him an opportunity to get out of range. When Adorno attempted to charge on, he would be met with the check hook before De Los Santos spun out of trouble. Adorno did land the occasional counter that may have slightly bothered the Dominican. However, the work-rate allowed De Los Santos to gain complete control of this fight with ease.
The Dominican has been seen on social media taunting two-division champ Shakur Stevenson. If Stevenson continues to have trouble finding opponents, De Los Santos is interested!
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