Featherweight prospect Ruben Villa was too quick, agile, technical and smart for hard-swinging Colombian Ruben Cervera in the eight-round co-featured bout to Showtime’s first ShoBox: The New Generation of 2019, which took place in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Villa (15-0, 5 knockouts), a 21-year-old former amateur standout from Salinas, California, won a unanimous decision by shutout scores of 80-72. The southpaw technician out-jabbed Cervera (10-1, 9 KOs) during the early rounds while evading the Colombian’s power shots by blocking, slipping or side-stepping the wide punches.

Over the second half of the bout, Villa gradually added counter hooks, straight lefts, body (and chest) shots and one-two combinations to his offense, which landed at a high connect-rate according to CompuBox stats (41% of his total punches, 51% of his power punches).

Bottom line: Cervera was spirited and game but too unpolished to compete with Villa, who is being developed and guided very well by co-promoters Thompson Boxing and Banner Promotions and the training team of Max Garcia and Dean Familton.