By Eric Armit
It may have gone a little under the radar, but Sulaiman Segawa pulled off a huge upset by scoring a unanimous decision win over Ruben Villa in Las Vegas last weekend. The Ugandan won the battle of the left-handers, using his longer reach and high work rate.
He was throwing straight punches at Villa from the start, and Villa looked slow as Segawa was the one to land the first punches and land some sharp combinations.
Villa was unlucky with his natural counter-attacking style. He was often on the offensive, being countered by Segawa but with little success.
Segawa found gaps in Villa’s defence that shouldn’t have been there. Villa increased his work rate, but Segawa was more accurate, consistently finding the target with straight left-handed shots.
As they stood and traded blows, Segawa landed more punches and landed more punches. Villa had a good fourth round, landing some sharp hooks and hitting Segawa twice with right hands.
Villa outscored Segawa in the sixth round, but that did not bode well for the course of the fight. Segawa again showed his superiority in the seventh round and surprisingly outpointed the more skillful Villa, who did not land his usual accurate punches.
Segawa worked hard with his right punch and used his strength to push Villa away as Villa came inside. Villa suffered heavy bruising around his left eye.
Villa attacked Segawa with a right hook in the eighth round, but Segawa then landed two hard left punches but Villa was able to land a series of body blows that forced Segawa back.
Segawa won the ninth round because Villa did not land enough punches and Segawa ended the round with a flurry of punches.
Segawa used his straight punches to dominate the first round of the tenth, and Villa came out strong in the second, but it was Segawa’s round and Segawa’s fight.
The scores were 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 for Segawa, who won the WBC Silver title. Villa is number 1 with the WBC, so this is a big win for Segawa and a big blow for Villa.
Segawa suffered a humiliating defeat to unbeaten Argentine Mirco Cuello in eight rounds in March, so he looked like a safe bet for Villa. However, Villa has never really come to terms with Segawa’s high work rate and had a night he would rather forget. It was the second time Villa has stumbled in his career, following a 2020 loss to Emanuel Navarrete (below).
