By Craig Daly: Roiman Villa predicts an upset win over interim IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis this Saturday night July 8 on Showtime at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ Villa (26-1, 24 KOs) came out of nowhere to defeat favorite Rashidi Ellis on Jan. 7.
He will be the first big puncher for Boots Ennis, 26, and it will be interesting to see how he holds up against Villa’s big hits. The last thing Ennis can afford is to overlook the powerful Venezuelan-born fighter.
With the win still fresh on their minds, Villa are set for an even bigger victory over ‘Boots’ Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs), many seen as heir apparent to dynamic duo Errol Spence Jr & Terence Crawford.
Villa insists he will NOT fight fear like Karen Chukhadzhian did last January by running away from ‘Boots Ennis all night for twelve rounds.
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 battles Marquis Taylor in a ten-round contest.
Roiman happy with underdog status
“I like it because he’s such an overwhelming favorite that I feel like people are flying me under the radar, and that’s how I like it,” Roiman Villa told Fighthype. about his match against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis this Saturday.
Can Roiman beat Ennis? Villa doesn’t mind being the underdog against Ennis, and it allows him to go into Saturday’s fight without any pressure on him. It’s the same situation as Villa in his last fight against Rashidi Ellis.
Everyone thought he would lose, and he came in late to drop the two-time undefeated contender to take the win.
“There are no big men, so I’m going to be up for the challenge, and he’s a quality fighter, but I can’t wait to show the fans what I’m capable of,” Villa said.
“First of all, I trust the preparation of the work that we put in place, and you know most of that. 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 two fists, and my style is to go forward and attack, regardless of who is against me and what the public perception is. .
“I can’t contain myself. It’s in my blood. I have to fight like I’m Mexican or Chino Maidana for an Argentinian example there. Aggression is in my blood, and I’m going to go there and follow my instincts because that’s exactly what I do.
“Look, it’s just my way of being. I can’t explain it, but what I can tell you is, for example, in the Mayweather-Maidana fight where Maidana was very, very aggressive, and Mayweather was tactical. He didn’t let him do what he wanted to do,” Villa said.
It’s unclear what Villa learned from watching Floyd Mayweaather Jr’s wins over Marcos Maidana as he always fights the same way. Mayweather arguably lost the first fight with Maidana but still got the win.
“It was a bit like trying to hit something that wasn’t there. I learned a lot from that fight where no matter how strong you are, if someone won’t let you do what you want to do, you can’t just go ahead and keep being stubborn. You have to find different ways,” Villa said.
Villa confident of victory over Ennis
“I will remove the upheaval. You couldn’t even pay me $10 million to fight with fear like that because what happened in the fight is that fear clearly paralyzes the best of them,” Villa said. Karen Chukhadzhian, Jaron Ennis’ last opponent.
Will Roiman Villa survive long if they strike with Boots Ennis? Roiman might be better off if he flees Ennis like Chukhadzhian, because at least he will survive the early rounds.
“If you allow yourself to be paralyzed with fear, then that’s it,” Villa said. I can promise you there’s not an ounce of me that’s ready to fight like that. I am quite the opposite.
“I have been preparing for four or five months. If I were to go in there and just run around the ring and be scared, it would be disrespectful to the fans and a total waste of the preparation I did for five months.
“If you’re going to fight like this, what’s the point? You have to go out there and be true to your beliefs and my belief is to step forward and be aggressive,” Roiman said.
