It was not the knockout his hometown fans wanted, but Ruben Villa will take valuable rounds and a decision victory to the bank.

Villa (11-0, 4 knockouts) shutout Marlon Olea, of Colombia, for eight rounds, winning a one-sided decision before a sold-out crowd of about 1,000 at the Sports House in Salinas, California.

All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Villa.

After fighting the first 10 bouts in Southern California and on the East Coast, the 20-year-old Villa was fighting for the first time in his hometown of Salinas, an agricultural city about a 90-minute drive south of San Francisco.

The southpaw Villa worked effectively behind a jab, utilizing his ring generalship to get within range of Olea. As the fight progressed, Olea was content to survive, doing very little to engage with the taller Villa, who mixed his attack, landing left hands to the head or finishing combinations with right hooks to the body.

With about 45 seconds left in the eighth round, Villa stunned Olea with a left hand to the head. Villa attempted to follow up with a barrage of punches, but Olea was able to hold on until the final bell sounded.

The victory was Villa’s fourth in a row by decision.

Olea (13-3, 12 KOs) has now lost three of his last four bouts.

Fringe junior bantamweight contender Bruno Escalante won a disputed eight-round unanimous decision over Diuhl Olguin.

The southpaw Escalante (17-3-1, 7 KOs), who resides in nearby San Mateo, was the more effective fighter early on. Escalante dropped the fighter from Guadalajara, Mexico with a left hand to the body near the end of the third round.

The knockdown seemed to spring Olguin into action. The taller Olguin pressed the action, letting his hands go as he closed the distance between him and Escalante.

As the bout progressed into the final rounds, Olguin effectively outboxed Escalante, initiating exchanges and outboxing the Filipino-American.

What was expected to be a close decision for Olguin ended up being a decision win for Escalante, who won by scores of 78-73, 78-73, and 77-74.

Olguin falls to 12-9-3, 9 KOs.

Fringe welterweight Max Becerra won a six-round unanimous decision over Erick Martinez.

Martinez (14-12-1, 8 KOs) momentarily stunned Becerra early in round one. Becerra dominated the fight the rest of the way, throwing multiple combinations that connected to the head and body.

All three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Becerra, who improves to 14-2-2, 8 KOs.

In preliminary action:
– Featherweights Alberto Torres (10-1-3, 4 KOs) and Naciff Martinez (21-10-3, 9 KOs) fought to a majority decision draw. One judge scored the draw 58-56, while the other two judges scored the bout 57-57.

– Lightweight Pedro Moreno won a six round unanimous decision over Sergio Ramirez (3-2, 3 KOs). Scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55 for Moreno, who improves to 8-0, 5 KOs.

– In junior lightweight action, Bogar Padilla (1-1) dropped Brandon Trejo (3-1, 1 KO) early in round one en route to a four round unanimous decision victory. Scores were 39-36, 39-36, and 38-37 for Padilla.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) newspaper, RingTV.com, and FightNight.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing