Ruben Villa headlines January 31st ShoBox tripleheader in Shreveport, LA

Two weeks after its inaugural ShoBox event of the new decade, Showtime will make its way to Shreveport, Louisiana for another installment at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum. Rising featherweight and series regular Ruben Villa headlines alongside fellow unbeatens Taras Shelestyuk and Yeis Solano.

None of the three presently have opponents.

Villa (17-0, 5 KO), a 22-year-old out of Salinas, California, has won a couple of WBO trinkets and worked his way into the sanctioning body’s #5 spot at 126 pounds. He made his ShoBox debut in January with a decision over Ruben Cervera in Shreveport, headlined four months later with a decision over Luis Vargas, then defeated fellow prospect Jose Durantes in a co-feature in September.

Shelestyuk (17-0, 10 KO) was a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, part of a Ukrainian squad that included Vasiliy Lomachenko, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and Oleksandr Usyk. He didn’t quite follow his teammates’ rapid ascents, though; he’s fought just twice since a 2016 ShoBox win over Jaime Herrera and recently turned 34. He’ll need to fast-track if he wants to live up to his potential.

Colombia’s Solano (15-0, 10 KO) fought outside his home country for the first time on, you guessed it, a ShoBox card this past June, surviving an emptied gas tank to beat Elias Araujo by split decision. He and Araujo combined for nearly 1,500 thrown punches in eight rounds, with “El Tigre” contributing over 800.