Once-beaten power puncher Roiman ‘Flaco de Oro’ Villa 26-1 (24) remains unfazed by the reputation of his next opponent Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis 30-0 (27) who he will face at The Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday night.
The 30-year-old Colombian has strung together seven wins since his lone loss to Marcos Villasana by split points decision in Mexico four years ago.
In his most recent victory he overcame the favoured Rashidi Ellis 24-1 (15), dropping him twice in the 12th and final round to win by majority decision in Washington DC in January.
Villa sees the Ennis fight as just another opportunity to prove the oddsmakers wrong.
“I like it because he’s such an overwhelming favourite that I feel like people have me flying under the radar and that’s just the way I like it,” Villa said to FightHype.
“There are no big men. So I’m going to be ready to be up for the challenge and he’s a quality fighter, but I’m looking forward to showing the fans what I’m capable of.
“First of all, I trust the preparation of the work that we’re putting in, and you know most of it. I don’t like to talk about fighters in what they do wrong.
“For me it’s about what I do in the ring with my own two fists and my style is going forward and attacking regardless of who is up against me and what their public perception is.
“I can’t contain myself. It’s in my blood. I need to fight like I were Mexican or Chino Maidana for an Argentinian example there. Aggressiveness is in my blood and I’m going to go out there and follow my instinct because that’s just what I do.”
That aggressiveness may or may not pay dividends against Ennis, 27, who pitched a shutout against Karen Chukhadzhian on the same card that featured Villa-Ellis but often failed to cut off the ring effectively.
Villa’s style would appear to be a much better match for Ennis’ skills and on paper at least, a can’t miss clash for the fans.
“I’m going to pull off the upset,” Villa insisted. “You couldn’t pay me even $10 million to fight scared like that because what happened in the fight [against Chukhadzhian ] is that clearly fear paralyses the best of them.
“If you allow yourself to be paralysed by fear, then that’s it. I can promise you that there is not a single ounce of me that’s willing to fight like that. I’m the total opposite.
“I’ve been preparing for the past four or five months. If I were to go in there and just run around the ring and be scared, that would be disrespectful to the fans and a total waste of the preparation that I made for five months.
“If you’re going to fight like that, what’s the point? You got to go out there and be and be faithful to your convictions and my conviction is about going forward and being aggressive.”
