Even in losing a world title fight, Salinas boxer Ruben Villa IV inspires his fans.

Perhaps no one was looking forward to the fight more than Luis Alejo.

Professional boxer Ruben Villa IV, the 23-year-old pride of Salinas, was about to enter a televised bout in Las Vegas for a chance to win a world featherweight title against a more experienced and higher-ranked opponent. Alejo represents Salinas on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. He is also a lifelong boxing fan and loves to rep #TeamVilla on social media. But there was a far more important factor that made this fight special for him.

It had to do with his father, Tom Alejo, Jr., who for the past 10 years had been in a painful struggle with bone cancer. On the day of the fight, the devoted son was in Phoenix comforting his ailing father. Villa lives in Salinas and knows his fans much better than might be expected from a famous athlete. He wanted to honor Tom Alejo, a U.S. Army vet, and lift his spirits.

To do so, he emblazoned the words “Keep Fighting Tom” on his fight night shorts and on the new Team Villa T-shirts – a personal message for one among hundreds of thousands of fans expected to tune into ESPN that night.

But then, a few minutes before the first round, one of Villa’s trainers whispered in his ear that Tom had just died.

The encouragement to “Keep Fighting” became a mantra turned inward, a gritty attitude that Villa would display against his taller and explosive opponent, Emanuel Navarrete.

Five-foot-six and weighing under 126 pounds, Villa entered the night with a perfect record. In his 18 bouts since turning pro, he had never lost. In five of those fights, he had won by knockout. Boxing magazine The Ring ranked Villa eighth in the world in his weight class. Still, he was the underdog compared to Navarrete, a 25-year-old Mexican fighter who held the world junior featherweight title for two years. Nicknamed El Vaquero, or The Cowboy, Navarrete is known for his improvisational style and forceful hooks. He had won 32 of 33 fights, including an astonishing 27 by knockout. Villa’s plan was to leverage his superior technique and defeat Navarrete on his mistakes.

About 50 family members, friends and fans drove to Las Vegas to get as close as they could to the boxing “bubble” inside the MGM Grand Conference Center. But the pandemic meant none could come ringside.

The best seats, then, might have been at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, where dozens of cars gathered for a drive-in watch party. The event was put together by Villa’s sponsor, the local distiller El Jefe Tequila. As one young man in a group that drove in from Salinas to watch says, “Not a lot of people who come from Salinas rep Salinas,” as others nod in agreement. “A lot of them leave it in their rearview mirror.”

In the first round, and then again in the fourth, Navarrete managed to land punches that knocked Villa down but not out. He had never been knocked down before in his career, but in each case he remembered to “Keep Fighting” and got his feet quickly.

A few days later, while analyzing the fight at his gym, Villa said: “When I got knocked down, I didn’t panic, I just continued to execute my game plan. The fight was not over.”

Indeed, after the second knockdown, Villa improved, landing jabs and skillfully dancing around the ring, using his footwork to evade and attack.

The fight extended to the full 12 rounds and was decided by three judges, who all scored Navarrete higher. It was a loss for Villa but an impressive performance: Consider that Navarrete’s fights last five rounds on average.

Alejo later responded via Twitter about the tragedy of losing his father and the bittersweet chain of events: “On behalf of the Alejo family, we want to personally thank Salinas Boxer @ruben_villa4 & his team for this effort tonight to inspire my dad to continue his fight against cancer w these shirts in tonight’s world championship fight! You’re a true hero, Ruben.”

Back at his gym in Salinas after the fight, Villa flashes a boyish smile as he talks about the continued support from family and friends. “It wasn’t our time,” he says, but his time for a world title could very well come eventually.