The results of the fight of Jaron Ennis vs. Xander Zayas: ‘Boots’ TKO win to claim 154-pound titles
Jaron “Boots” Ennis earned the pole position at the top of the 154-pound division on Saturday and did it the hard way by battling through the trenches and past co-champion Xander Zayas in their thrilling slugfest in Brooklyn, New York.
Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs) walked out of the Barclays Center to boobos from a mixed, Puerto Rican crowd as the WBA and WBO champion after a three-round knockout and survived a nasty Round 3 injury. But after several rounds of fights between the two elite boxers, Zayas’ (23-1, 13 KOs) corner gave up at 1:49 of Round 7 when Ennis landed on it.
Not only did the towering Ennis, a native of nearby Philadelphia, get hit harder than we’re used to seeing, the 23-year-old Zayas showed a strong chin and a lot of guts that boosted his stock in defeat.
“It feels really good,” Ennis said. “[Zayas] He wanted to test himself against one of the best players in the division and I commend him for that. This was a dream. I had fun doing a show for the fans and I got the job done.
“It’s a blessing to be a two-time champion.”
The 29-year-old Ennis, who previously held titles at 147 pounds but was unable to lure any of the elite fighters, looked to cement his position as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world in the biggest fight of his professional career.
When Ennis naturally switched to southpaw midway through Round 1, he began to hurt Zayas with clean combinations and uppercuts to the body. He dropped Zayas with quick left hands to build an early lead.
But when Ennis started to show off his good footwork and a variety of dancing and counterattacks in Round 3, Zayas bit the guard to eat a right hand before landing his right to Ennis’ chin to hurt him. The back-and-forth slugfest came to a close in Round 4 as Zayas landed some big points to the body and Ennis opted to stand and trade instead of holding and punching.
“[Ennis] It hurt me a little bit in the first round so my legs went a few rounds and I needed to get them,” said Zayas. “It’s part of the business but you learn and come back and get better. I feel like I hurt him [in Round 3] and he hit him with some good shots but he’s a great champion.”
Ennis again took control of the fight in Round 5 with authority as he went down on Zayas and stopped him with a good right hand combination to the body and a left uppercut. Zayas was lucky to survive the rest of the round as Harvey Dock came close to jumping after Ennis’ clean punches.
In the 7th round, Ennis put the fight away as a flurry of clean punches forced Zayas to a voluntary knee. Soon after, Zayas’ corner saved their new fighter from any further damage.
“It was an amazing night,” Zayas said. “I showed tonight that when you dream big, sometimes you come a little short but it’s part of the journey. I’m happy with the way I played. But congratulations ‘Boots.’ He did what he had to do to get the win.
“[My cornermen] they are here to save me. They are here so I can live another day tomorrow. I knew it was the right decision if they made it because it was time.”
After the fight, Zayas refused to confirm rumors that he intends to move up to middleweight next after skipping the division.
“I don’t want to say that right now. I lost the battle,” said Zayas. “He won tonight. I’m not going to make the excuse that I’m going up in weight. I want to take a break and make no excuses. He won like the champion that he is and I lost like the gentleman that I am.”
Ennis, who missed a non-title victory, a tough fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. who had not been separated earlier this year when a dispute between Ortiz’s manager and promoter led to court, remained adamant that his goal was to unify all four recognized titles.
“Anybody [promoter] Eddie [Hearn of Matchroom Sport] we want, that’s what we’ll get [next,]” Ennis said. “Bring Vergil in and buckle up. I’m here to be uncontested in this weight class so it doesn’t matter who’s next because I’m going to fight them all.”
