Ruben Villa and Frank Faure win comfortably as well.
One of the sport’s absolute top prospects in lightweight Devin Haney (21-0, 13 KOs) picked up a dominant unanimous decision win last night in the ShoBox main event against South African fellow unbeaten Xolisani Ndongeni (25-1, 13 KOs). Haney scored a second round knockdown but never found the finish he was looking for in there. Regardless, Haney continues to impress. His body work and movement were exceptional. The 20 year old also didn’t fall into the lulls of action that have appeared previously and could threaten future stardom if he isn’t deemed exciting.
As for Ndongeni, he tried in there. This was only his second fight in the US. It was a tall order too. The South African could have folded many times during the bout, but he always came back with little surges when it looked like the finish was coming sooner rather than later. Making it to the bell only got him shutout cards in the wrong direction, but he made it nonetheless. It should be noted though that I am not exactly sure Xolisani was the step up he was billed at even with his unbeaten record. He looked pretty crude in there technically at times.
2016 Olympic alternated Ruben Villa (15-0, 5 KOs) also pitched a shut out in the co-main event over Colombian no hope opponent Ruben Cervera (10-1, 9 KOs). In many ways this fight was ShoBox at its worst. Villa is a solid prospect worthy of the slot, don’t get me wrong, but could they not have found him an opponent who had ever been in with a fighter with a winning record? What was going to happen here was obvious the minute the fight was signed. Sometimes ShoBox falls victim to wanting to promote how many undefeated fighters have taken their first loss on the series rather than actually test prospects which is supposed to be the mission statement. This one was just Villa casually doing whatever he wanted in between the ropes.
The opener wasn’t much better, but at least it was over quickly. Well, quickly in one sense. Under the radar Cuban heavyweight prospect Frank Sanchez (11-0, 9 KOs) disposed of Indiana product Willie Jake Jr (8-2-1, 2 KOs) with what will go down as a quick, two round finish. It was an odd one though. After a nondescript first round, a rope collapsed right off the ring. It took about fifteen minutes to get it straightened out for the fight to continue. Then when Sanchez pushed Jake back to the ropes in the second round, a combination seemed to have the American down and out face first. It didn’t look like a whole lot landed there, but maybe a left hook got through. Either way that was the fight.
