Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis stops Roiman Villa to retain IBF interim welterweight belt ahead of Errol Spence v Terence Crawford

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis made light work of Roiman Villa, while Marlen Esparza defeated Gabriela Alaniz.

Ennis, the IBF interim welterweight belt holder, was able to stop Villa in the 10th round after a left-right combo put his opponent on the floor, before returning for another flurry that caused the referee to intervene.

As the interim champion, Ennis will be hoping to pick up a belt, eliminator or title fight against the winner of Errol Spence Jr. v Terence Crawford after their undisputed clash is resolved later this year.

In Mexico City, former world title-holder Luis Nery defeated Froilan Saludar in just two rounds, with the Filipino knocked down three times in the second. With just a single defeat to his name, Nery will hope to be back in contention for a title shot at super bantamweight.

In San Antonio, Esparza was already a unified champion, but she added another flyweight strap to her name after defeating Alaniz.

The pair fought on the undercard for what should have been Eimantas Stanionis’ defence of his WBA regular welterweight championship against Vergil Oritz, but their bout was cancelled late last week.

Esparza came into the ring as WBC, WBA and lineal champion at flyweight, and she secured her victory on points after 10 rounds.

Replacing the main event was Floyd Schofield, a promising unbeaten lightweight. He came up against veteran Haskell Rhodes, and the youngster was the clear winner with each judge scoring the fight 100-87 in the 20-year-old’s favour.

With Devin Haney currently looking likely to fight Shakur Stevenson in a lightweight title defence, Schofield will have little chance of stepping up in the near future.