Via Vince Dwriter: Showtime’s pay-per-view event featuring Gervonta “Tank” Davis against Hector Luis Garcia included a card featuring many boxing star favorites, but that night it went downhill when the heavyweight opponent Welterweight Roiman Villa defeated Rashidi Ellis (24-1, 15 KOs) by majority decision.
The difference in speed can be immediately identified as Ellis is very fast and elusive. He starts the match using his jabs and landings into the opponent’s body. Villa are pushing forward to try to create an offensive position, but Ellis has very good control of range and distance.
In the first half of the battle, Ellis was in complete control and it looked like he was going for a routine victory. However, Villa continued to push forward, and he enjoyed some success in the second half of the game when he made good cuts in the box and attacked the body.
Rashidi Ellis entered the match as a talented welterweight contender, but what was critical for Ellis was that he had a habit of lackluster in the ensuing rounds. Entering the next rounds against Villa, Ellis once again showed signs of slowing down.
Roiman Villa continued to pressurize, using slits and shooting shots at people. In the ninth round, he landed with a backhand that was sure to send Ellis wobbly. In the 10th round, Villa picked up the pace as he started the round by landing some solid coordination, and he ended the round with a strong right-handed landing.
In the 12th and final inning of the match, Villa hit a massive left hook that sent Ellis to the tarp. Ellis managed to pull himself up, but he had to find a way to survive the last half of the round. Seconds later, Villa seemed to score another knockdown, but the referee didn’t call it that.
As Villa continued to stalk his injured opponent, he was able to score a second knock-out with just a few seconds left in the final half. Rashidi Ellis was able to beat the count, when the match went to the scorecard, and the scorecards of the three referees revealed that Roiman Villa had been awarded the decisive majority victory with the official score of 113- 113, 114-112 and 114-112 .
Roiman Villa (26-1, 24 KOs) made a spectacular comeback after the victory. In the post-match interview, he admitted to having a slow start, but as the game progressed he was able to pick up the pace.
“First of all I want to thank God for this victory. Second, he’s a tough fighter. He moves a lot. He hit very hard, but in the first few rounds I was a little tight, but I relaxed.
At one point Rashidi Ellis was in complete control of the match against Villa until the second half of the match. Villa spoke about how he anticipates getting a chance to return to the fight.
“I was on top of him from the first round. I know that fighters like that, fast, get tired sooner or later, and that’s what I took advantage of.”
