By David Finger
Ask any boxing fan from West Texas and Northern Mexico who was the best fighter from the Permian Basin, and the unanimous consensus would almost certainly be the late Thomas “El Norteño” Villa. Villa excited fans in Texas over a career that spanned ten years (from 2001-2011), winning the Texas State featherweight championship twice, the WBC Continental Americas Super Bantamweight title in 2005, the IBA Continental Super Bantamweight belt in 2007, and the IBA Intercontinental featherweight title in 2008. In 2010 he fought Mikey Garcia for the USBA Featherweight belt and in 2011 he would challenge Jhonny Gonzalez is a bout for the WBC world Featherweight title in what would be his final fight.
Sadly, the Midland native tragically lost his life in a car accident in 2018.
However, the Mexican born boxer’s impact on the sport in Texas and Chihuahua were undeniable. Villa was honored in his original hometown of Ojinaga, Chihuahua this weekend. The city’s boxing gym was renamed after Villa in a ceremony attended by Villa’s family in Texas, former champion Daniel Ponce De Leon, and Ojinaga mayor Lucy Marrufo. The newly named Tomás El Norteño Villa Boxing Gym, and the boxing scene in Ojinaga, already had a storied history and the ceremony was in conjunction with the anticipated proclamation from the World Boxing Council honoring Ojinaga’s contributions to boxing.
“It’s not just any city that is awarded such great pride,” event coordinator Victor Sotelo was quoted as saying by the Big Bend Sentinel, “Ojinaga will be a bastion and a breeding ground for outstanding boxers across borders and at the national level.”
Villa’s final record as a professional boxer was 23-8-5, 14 KOs.
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