Philly’s Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis drops Roiman Villa in 10th round to defend IBF welterweight title

ATLANTIC CITY — Jaron “Boots” Ennis stomped his feet twice on the canvas, flexed his body, and let out a guttural sound that could have cracked the old walls of Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater on Saturday night.

The 26-year-old Philadelphia welterweight survived the ultimate inquisition of himself. He passed a personal test that had been gnawing at him for months, when he vanquished rugged Roiman Villa, stopping him with 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the 10th round on a Premier Boxing Champions event on Showtime.

Ennis (31-0, 28 knockouts) retained the IBF interim welterweight title by beating a fighter who had never been dropped before, nor ever been previously knocked out.

“My performance was good,” Ennis said. “I could have listened to my corner a little more. My dad [and trainer, Derek “Bozy” Ennis] wanted me to do more body shots and more angles and not stand in front of him. I was getting hit with shots I was not supposed to get hit with.

“I appreciate Villa taking this fight. I was breaking him down and I came out victorious. I just had to be smart and take my time and keep touching and touching and eventually I was going to get him.”

A lesson learned from Ennis’ previous fight.

Back in January, Ukrainian Karen Chukhadzhian went the distance with Ennis, breaking Boots’ 19-fight knockout streak while eliciting criticism for the first time in his career by the boxing cognoscenti. Despite winning almost every second of every round, the victory did not meet Ennis’ lofty standards.

In fairness, Chukhadzhian did more running than fighting, and Ennis for the first time as a pro went 12 rounds and had to deal with a small taste of derision.

He vowed to make a return to who he is against Villa, a power puncher with a forward style that was coming off an upset victory over undefeated Rashidi Ellis the same night Ennis beat Chukhadzhian.

It did not take long for Ennis to establish who he is.

He controlled the center of the ring using a piston-like jab, throwing 60 jabs alone in the first round. Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) did not know what to do with a constant fist in his face.

Early in the second, Ennis switched from a conventional stance to a southpaw stance, something he frequently did throughout the fight. By the second, Villa had a bloody nose. Ennis was feeling so confident and loose that he even teased Villa with a flashy, winding bolo punch.

By the fourth, Villa was wearing a red mask. With 43 seconds left in the sixth, Ennis had Villa in serious trouble, starting with a clubbing overhand right that had Villa teetering. Villa was forced to hold on as the packed Ennis-partisan crowd exploded.

Just when Villa seemed spent, what made the fight entertaining was Villa kept fighting back. The Venezuelan continued engaging Ennis, even landing a few flush shots to the body and the head. He was bloodied in every round after the second and never stopped coming forward.

“That last fight [against Chukhadzhian] helped me a lot, because I went back to having fun, that’s the main key for me, having fun and don’t go looking for the knockout,” Ennis said. “That was the problem [against Chukhadzhian]. I was too impatient. I pressed too much. I won. But I was not happy with how I looked. I got back to that tonight.

“This guy was tailor-made for me. I knew he was a tough guy, but I knew I would break him down eventually. He had his hands up high, and he would eventually bring them down. I had to take my time.”

Villa’s steely, crimson veneer began cracking in the seventh. Working as a southpaw, Ennis pounded Villa to the body, and with 1:33 left in the round, Ennis nailed Villa point blank in the face with a left uppercut. Somehow, Villa was still standing in front of him—though dazed.

From there, it was a matter of time before the fight was stopped.

In the last 20 seconds of the eighth, Ennis looked as if he was on the verge of stopping Villa again. With Ennis raining punches on him, referee David Fields began peering in close and appeared on the brink of ending it then. As the ninth began, there was a rising concern by the ringside doctors as to whether to let Villa go out again.

When Villa went out for the 10th, Fields warned him that he had to show him something or the fight would end. Ennis did him the courtesy. With 1:34 left in the 10th, an Ennis’ left to the jaw, followed by a heavy right to Villa’s head sent the brave fighter down for the first time in his career. Fields immediately jumped in and wisely stopped it at 1:27 of the 10th with Villa tangled in the ropes.

Ennis said he plans on being ringside for the megafight on July 29 in Las Vegas between IBF/WBC/WBA welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. and WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford for the first undisputed welterweight world champion in the four-belt era.

Boots hopes to get the winner of the Spence-Crawford showdown, but he most likely will face welterweight contender Eimantas Stanionis sometime in December while Team Ennis plays boxing’s dreaded waiting game.

“We needed this tonight,” said Derek Ennis. “Villa was a tough guy. He was strong, and he kept coming. Boots got caught with a couple of shots, too, so no one could say Boots cannot take a punch. This win rates high. Boots looked good against someone who was willing to fight back, and sometimes he did left-handed, and Boots is right-handed. He would have beaten Errol Spence or Terence Crawford at their own game tonight.”

» READ MORE: Philly’s Jaron Ennis isn’t holding his breath for a shot at welterweight champion Errol Spence