Martin O’Malley is about to either pick up the pace or press the pause button on his slow but steady climb up the lightweight ranks.
The once-beaten Edmonds boxer has signed on for his first title fight later this month.
O’Malley, 28, will face Luis Villalta for the vacant North American Boxing Association lightweight belt July 19 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
The winner of the 10-round matchup automatically vaults into the World Boxing Association top 10 rankings.
“I’ve had 22 pro fights. I think I’ve been eligible to have a fight like this for a while,” O’Malley said. “I’m looking forward to getting the belt.”
Ranked sixth by the NABA, O’Malley (21-1, 14 knockouts) has won his last four bouts by unanimous decision after sustaining a TKO loss to current WBA lightweight champion Leo Dorin two summers ago.
O’Malley’s most recent outing was a lopsided eight-round victory over Julian Romero May 13 in Arizona. A punishing jab helped O’Malley control Romero and win every round on all three scorecards.
Villalta (29-4-1, 25 knockouts) scored a fourth-round knockout of Jose Luis Soto-Karass May 19 to snap a three-fight losing skid.
In April, Villalta suffered a disappointing TKO defeat to Lakva Sim. Villalta, 33, was ahead on all three scorecards through three rounds but twisted his ankle at the start of the fourth round and was unable to continue.
“He likes to press forward and come after guys,” O’Malley said. “He leads with his head a lot and he likes to get a lot of leverage with his right hand.”
O’Malley’s top priority is to avoid Villalta’s power punches without restricting his own offensive maneuvers.
“He’s pretty heavy-handed. I don’t want to stand in front of him and exchange punches the whole time,” O’Malley said. “I’m not a boxer who moves around a lot and I’m not going to change that. But I plan on being more elusive. I’ll move left and right.”
It will be O’Malley’s first fight in his home state since he appeared on a pair of Emerald Queen cards in March and June of 2002. O’Malley is 9-0 with six knockouts in Washington.
Villalta, who trains out of Hillsborough, N.J., logged close to 150 amateur fights and claimed six Peruvian national championships. His first 27 pro fights were in Peru.
Since returning from a 30-month layoff in November 2001, Villalta is 3-3-1.
“I’ve seen his last couple fights,” O’Malley said. “I’ve got a definite game plan I’ve been working on.”
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