Ruben Villa W10 Enrique Vivas... In the ShoBox co-feature from Midland, Texas, featherweight Ruben Villa (17-0, 5 KOs) of Salinas, Calif., dominated Enrique Vivas (17-1, 9 KOs) of Mexico City, recording a tem-round unanimous decision shutout. The scores were 100-89 on all three judges’ scorecards A clean left hand in the second round set up by a Villa right jab sent Vivas to the canvas for the first time as a pro. Not known for his knockout power, Villa stepped into the punch for the clean knockdown.

 

“The knockdown definitely set the pace for the fight,” said Villa, who went the distance for the sixth consecutive fight and second straight at 10 rounds. “I just didn’t want to get too excited and knew I had to keep to my game plan.”

 

The loss by Vivas was the 190th time in ShoBox’s 19-year history that an undefeated boxer had lost his perfect record.

 

“I’m not happy with the decision,” Vivas said. “I feel I performed better than what the judges saw. I’m also not happy with my performance. I know I can do so much better than what I showed tonight.

 

Villa, who was fighting for the third time on ShoBox, displayed excellent defense and accuracy, landing 44 percent of his punches, including 59 percent of his power shots.

 

Four-division champion Mikey Garcia said his fighter, Vivas, faced distractions during the fight and fight week. “He was never able to get in the groove of things, and Villa’s southpaw stand was tough,” Garcia said. “He also had a lot distractions trying to secure his visa during training camp. So all of these distractions might have played a role in his performance tonight. I’ll keep working with him, we’ll get him a few more fights and back at this level.”

 

Villa said he knew what to expect from Vivas. “We knew he was dirty,” he said. “We addressed it but we kind of fell into his game plan for about two rounds but we were able to get back on track.”

 

 

Both fighters stayed warm as a rope malfunction caused a delay for the sixth round.

 

Villa said he wants to fight for a world title within the next 12 months. “Whatever comes next, I’m up for it,” Villa said. “I’m going to take a few weeks off, then it’s right back to the gym.” source: showtime