Super bantamweight prospect Ruben Villa shut out Jose Santos Gonzalez over eight rounds. The prospect from Salinas, California displayed a technical acumen that helped him win multiple national titles in the amateur rankings and earned a spot on the US Olympic team as an alternate to fellow prospect Shakur Stevenson. Villa’s balance, fluidity in transitioning from offense to defense and vice-versa, pivots and ring awareness were on point as he befuddled Gonzalez and never allowed him to get into the fight. A smooth, technical operator despite not being a big puncher. As he moves towards contention, he should be able to wear down his opponents and get stoppages once he gets into later rounds due to accuracy and cumulation of punches.
Tags: 2016 Olympics, 2017 Asian Games, Bakhodir Jalalov, Batyr Akmedov, Elnur Abduraimov, former champion, gold medalist, Joel Diaz, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Olympic medalist, Radzhab Butaev, Ramon Contreras, Ruben Villa, Shakram Giyasov, silver medalist, super bantamweight, Timothy Bradley, trainer, WBA, World Amateur, World Amateur Silver medal, World Series of Boxing