Ennis remains unbeaten, knocks out Villa in 10

Rising welterweight star Jaron "Boots" Ennis remained undefeated with a 10th-round KO of Roiman Villa on Saturday in a welterweight fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Ennis (31-0, 18 KOs) walked Villa down over the course of the fight with his quick hands and sharp counter punches. But in round 10, Ennis caught Villa with a pair of crisp right hands followed by a chopping left that sent the always tough fighter to the canvas for good.

As Villa hit the deck, referee David Fields waved off the PBC on Showtime main event without a count, ending the one-sided beatdown.

"I'm getting better," said Ennis. "We got to wait for Errol Spence and Bud [Terence Crawford] to fight, and you know I want the winner of that."

Spence and Crawford will meet July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in a highly-anticipated super fight for the undisputed welterweight championship. "Boots" also expressed interest in a bout with Eimantas Stanionis, who was scheduled to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Saturday. However, Ortiz was forced to withdraw from a fight for the third time alone due to rhabdomyolysis.

But Ennis, unlike last year, is maintaining a steady level of activity. Coming off a 12-round decision win over Karen Chukhadzhian in January, the 26-year-old Ennis handled Villa with ease, doling out damage from the onset.

In round two, Ennis bloodied Villa's nose with his southpaw jab and mixed in right hooks. The 30-year-old Villa (26-2, 24 KOs), of Venezuela, was fresh off a career-best majority decision victory over then-unbeaten Rashidi "Speedy" Ellis, who suffered two late knockdowns.

Villa had never been knocked down in his pro career, but Ennis made sure to ruin that unblemished statistic. He buckled his legs in the sixth round with a sustained series of right hands and had him in serious trouble down the stretch.

Ennis appeared to damage Villa again in the following round with a left uppercut. It seemed the writing was on the wall.

Indeed it was as Ennis punctuated an excellent performance by knocking Villa out in the 10th.