Ardreal Holmes Victorious In ShoBox Main Event

Friday night in Topeka, Kansas the ShoBox series on Showtime resumed with an impressive, main event performance by Adreal Holmes, who remained unbeaten with a 10 round win over Ismael Villarreal.

That fight culminated the tripleheader broadcast from the Stormont Vail Events Center in the Kansas capital,

Tonight was Ardreal “Bossman” Holmes' night 👏🏾#SHOBOX #HolmesVillarreal pic.twitter.com/TQZigd9jQs

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) February 18, 2023

The Flint, Michigan native Holmes improves to 13-0 with 5 KOs, while Villarreal (12-1, 8 KOs) became the 224th undefeated boxer to sustain his first loss on the ShoBox series, a sign of the competitive matchmaking of the long-running series of bouts dating back 21 years.

Holmes’ effective jab was the difference, as he out-landed Villarreal 50-8 and overall, 422 punches to 269 in a show of authority that wasn’t really reflected in the scorecards. Despite those numbers in bulk, Villarreal actually got the nod on one scorecard 96-94. However, he won on the other two sheets 97-93 and 96-94 to get the victory.

“I felt like he won two, three rounds,” Holmes said in the ring to Showtime.

“I don’t know where that one card came from. I feel like I dominated the fight and felt like he might have gotten two or three middle rounds, but that was the max. I felt like I out-jabbed him and out-fought him. I felt like this was a step-up from last time I fought, and this was a tougher fight. I’m only 13 fights in so I’m going to keep improving.”

The main event was a classic matador vs. bull contest as the six-foot-two Holmes kept his distance with his jab and right hand and Villarreal tried to bully his way inside with wide, looping shots. Both had success but Holmes seemed to control the pace of the fight and frustrate his hard-charging opponent.

Villarreal of the Bronx, N.Y., was tough, but clearly out-landed throughout the majority of the bout.

Spirited action on the undercard

Meanwhile, in the co-feature, Edward Vazquez of Ft. Worth, TX, showed his superior conditioning and power as he dropped Misael Lopez and captured a split decision in a high-speed, spirited 10-round featherweight bout. Vazquez won by scores of 96-93, 95-94 and 94-95 to improve to 14-1 with 3 KOs as Lopez, in his third appearance on ShoBox, lost for the second time on the unforgiving prospect series to run his record to 14-2 with 5 KOs.

In the telecast opener, New Yorker Kurt Scoby demolished John Mannu in their 140-pound bout, flooring the Australian four times and ending things at 1:40 of the second round. Scoby improved to 11-0 with nine KOs, while Mannu, in his U.S. debut, fell to 7-1-1, becoming the 223rd (until the main event) undefeated fighter to suffer their first defeat on Shobox.