Ennis pounded an incredibly tough and game Roiman Villa for ten rounds before the end that made sense to allow Villa an out from taking the type of punishment that changes lives.
Ennis chopped Villa to the floor in the tenth and the fight quickly ended but hurt Villa multiple times in the fight, most notably in round six when Villa almost dipped to the floor and amazingly kept himself up and even more amazingly survived the round without going down.
Ennis occasionally took a right hand from Villa, so his night wasn't perfect but his offensive game ripped through Villa and had him bleeding from the nose and mouth for most of the battle.
Ennis was able to win the battles on the inside and outside against Villa, who showed a strong chin and toughness to spare but wasn't able to accomplish nearly enough against the formidable offensive toolbox of Ennis. It'll be interesting to see how much this battering took from Villa as often a fighter doesn't recover entirely after punishment like this.
Ennis called out the winner of the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford fight as a possible opponent but there will almost certainly be a rematch and the winner is likely to vacate his titles with Ennis's minor title with the IBF being promoted to the full championship.
A more realistic possibility would be against Eimantas Stanionis, who holds the minor WBA title and had his fight with Vergil Ortiz canceled for the third time earlier this week.
Stanonis fights with PBC ( The Ortiz fight was promoted by Golden Boy due to a purse bid), and a fight with Ennis would be entertaining, easy to make, I think, and could keep two of the titles that Spence or Crawford unify together.
Stanionis needs a fight, Ennis stated he wants to fight again before the end of the year, and with Spence-Crawford II contractually obligated to happen before 2023 ends, Ennis-Stanionis would make a terrific co-feature for the rematch PPV.
You would have to favor Ennis obviously but Stanionis wouldn't be without a chance to win.
The remaining two fights in the boxing challenge both showcased lightweight prospects that won lopsided decisions against overmatched opponents.
On Showtime, Edwin De Los Santos added something to his reputation as a puncher as he calmly outboxed Joseph Adorno in a dull ten-rounder.
Not much to say about this one other than De Los Santos used the jab to control Adorno throughout.
De Los Santos won easily by scores of 100-90 (same as my score) and two judges listed it as 99-91.
On DAZN from Golden Boy, Floyd Schofield was promoted to the main event after the cancellation of the Stanionis-Ortiz bout and dominated journeyman Haskell Rhodes in winning a unanimous decision.
The fight wasn't competitive but Schofield showed more pizzaz in dropping Rhodes twice in the seventh, and once in the eighth before a ninth-round headbutt tore a horizontal cut along Schofield's left cheekbone and allowed Rhodes some time to get himself together enough to last the distance.
Schofield won on all three cards 100-87, the same as mine.
Boxing Challenge
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