WASHINGTON – Roiman Villa’s promoter perceived some nervousness from Rashidi Ellis on Thursday.
Sampson Lewkowicz realizes Ellis is an effective boxer, however he doesn’t assume the welterweight contender can stand up to Villa’s energy. Lewkowicz thus predicted that Venezuela’s Villa (25-1, 24 KOs) will knock out Ellis (24-0, 15 KOs) on the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia undercard Saturday evening at Capital One Area.
“Belief me, that is the battle of the evening,” Lewkowicz informed BoxingScene.com following a press convention on the Marriott Marquis. “Initially, [Villa is] a lot greater. Rashidi, within the first 4, 5 rounds, he’ll transfer quite a bit. However he can not run the entire evening as a result of it’s a 20-by-20 ring. I predict a knockout.”
The 29-year-old Ellis, of Lynn, Massachusetts, is listed by most sportsbooks as a 6-1 favourite to defeat Villa of their 12-round, 147-pound bout. However, Villa has gained 92 % of his bouts by knockout and topped beforehand undefeated Detroit native Janelson Bocachica (17-1-1, 11 KOs) by unanimous determination in his most up-to-date battle, an eight-rounder Showtime televised September 9 as a part of its “ShoBox: The New Era” collection from Bally’s Occasion Heart in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey.
Villa, who can be 29, dropped Bocachica within the second spherical, however Bocachica made it to the ultimate bell and ended Villa’s five-fight knockout streak. The heavy-handed Villa nonetheless gained by huge margins on all three scorecards (79-71, 79-71, 78-72).
“He had private points,” Lewkowicz mentioned of Villa’s preparation for the Bocachica bout. “And actually, it was solely two weeks of coaching for Bocachica. Now he skilled for seven weeks. That can make a distinction. He was somewhat bit drained, however actually the referee saved Bocachica from getting knocked out. He took over a minute to choose up the mouthpiece, and he spit out the mouthpiece 4 occasions. The deduction of 1 level was not sufficient.”
Showtime will televise Ellis-Villa because the second of three undercard bouts as soon as the Davis-Garcia pay-per-view broadcast begins at 9 p.m. ET ($74.99).
Villa has gained six consecutive fights since he misplaced a 12-round break up determination to Mexico’s Marcos Villasana, who entered their bout in April 2019 in Los Mochis with a 23-6 report. If Villa can lengthen his profitable streak to seven by beating his most formidable opponent, he’ll have legitimized himself as a welterweight contender.
“I’m not about to be throwing stones on the market and I wanna keep humble,” Villa mentioned through the press convention, in accordance with his translator. “However on the similar time, I wanna see if that smirk that Rashidi has on his face proper now stays after the battle on Saturday evening.”
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He could be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
