Featherweight contender Ruben “Drac” Villa, the 25-year-old southpaw dynamo from Salinas, California, has inked a multi-fight promotional contract with Prime Rank.
Villa will make his long-awaited ring return in an eight-rounder Saturday, Could 13, on the undercard of the Janibek Alimkhanuly-Steven Butler WBO middleweight title combat at Stockton Enviornment in Stockton, California.
“Ruben Villa has every part it takes to grow to be a world champion,” stated Prime Rank chairman Bob Arum. “He’s a younger, proficient southpaw who has already examined himself on the sport’s highest stage. His future could be very shiny.”
Villa stated, “I’ve at all times dreamed of preventing on ESPN persistently and being with Prime Rank to make the massive fights. I need to win a world title and to do it as quickly as attainable. I sit up for preventing in Stockton, the place my hometown followers will probably be out in full pressure.”
“Villa will probably be a world champion very quickly,” stated Rick Mirigian, Villa’s supervisor. “This partnership was the right match, and we thank Prime Rank for an amazing deal for Ruben to show he belongs with the highest featherweights.”
Villa (19-1, 6 KOs) turned professional in 2016 and captured the WBO Worldwide featherweight strap in Could 2019 with a unanimous resolution over Luis Alberto Lopez, who’s now the IBF featherweight world champion. 4 months after toppling Lopez, he pitched a shutout over prime Mexican contender Jose Enrique Vivas.
These victories helped earn him a shot at Emanuel Navarrete for the WBO featherweight world title in October 2020. Navarrete dropped Villa within the first and fourth rounds, however Villa outboxed Navarrete for lengthy stretches.
The 2 knockdowns have been important, as Navarrete notched a unanimous resolution by scores of 114-112 2x and 115-111. Villa has fought as soon as because the Navarrete loss, knocking out Horacio Garcia within the ninth spherical final April.
