Salinas boxer back home for title fight
At only 20 years old, a young man from Salinas has been lighting up the boxing world and is coming home now to fight for a title. Ladies and gentlemen watching at home, if you haven’t heard the name Ruben Villa yet, you probably will. Especially if he wins his first title this Saturday night in Salinas.
In the red corner, boxing out of Salinas, California, 20-year old Ruben Villa first fell in love with boxing when his dad and grandfather threw him in the ring for his fifth birthday.
“So ever since then, man, I’ve just been working hard and I really was interested in it when I started maturing a little more and I saw that I could make this out of a career. Probably around 14 or 15 and I was doing good in the amateurs, I was an olympic alternate for the 2016 USA team and yeah man, then it got serious, and here we are, 10-0,” said professional boxer Ruben Villa.
10-0. Undefeated. Not an easy task. But something his trainer knew he could accomplish, even coming out of retirement to train him.
“You get a kid like this and I had known him since he was a little boy boxing and saw he had an amateur trainer, and I always followed his career, and my son and I Sam, we knew that he had the tools. I saw the attributes he had, the intangibles, and I said why not? Let’s give it a shot,” said Villa’s Trainer, Max Garcia.
And that shot has lead Ruben to those ten professional wins all around the world, with his most important fight happening this Saturday. He’ll be fighting for the WBO Youth Featherweight title right here in his hometown.
“It’s a dream come true man. I always wanted to fight a professional fight right here in Salinas but for it to be a title fight, man…it’s mind blowing man. All the hard work is finally paying off after all these years and hopefully we get a couple more shows down here,” said Villa.
“This means the world to us! Having a kid out of Salinas come up and dedicate himself, dedicate his life, his sacrifices, his family and everything to become a world champion. It means a lot to us,” said Garcia.
In a city where soccer usually dominates the sports headlines, having a boxing champion would certainly knock out that trend.
“I’m just doing the best that I can do. I’m just following my dreams and working hard and trying to make my own mark and with Salinas behind my back, of course, but I’m just trying to do what’s best for me,” said Villa.
“He’s destined to be a world champion, that’s what he was born for. I believe that,” said Garcia.
Ruben will fight Columbian Marlon Olea for the WBO Youth Featherweight title. That will take place at the Salinas Storm House with fights starting at six. Head to this link to find out how to buy tickets:
https://www.thompsonboxing.com/
