Boots proves there are levels, stops Zayas in Brooklyn war
· Yahoo Sports
BROOKLYN — Jaron “Boots” Ennis is a unified champion in a second weight class, and he had to walk through fire to get there. Ennis stopped Xander Zayas at 1:49 of the seventh round Saturday night at Barclays Center, dropping the previously unbeaten champion three times before Zayas’s corner threw in the towel and ended the fight.
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Ennis wasted no time setting the tone. Both fighters came out pressuring each other in the first round, but it was Ennis who landed the bigger shots, working behind an uppercut to the body before a right hook opened the door for a left straight that put Zayas on the canvas. Zayas beat the count and made it out of the round, but the message had already been sent.
The second round only reinforced it. Ennis looked completely unbothered by anything Zayas tried, absorbing shots without concern while he hunted for his next opening. For two rounds, it looked like a mismatch. Boots was well on his way to ending this one early as predicted by his father and trainer Bozy Ennis.
Fight fans have to give Zayas this much, he didn’t fold. The third round turned into the best stretch of his night, as he willed himself back into the fight, catching Ennis with a straight right and smothering Boots with punches that visibly shook the champion and had the Barclays Center crowd roaring. For a moment, it looked like a real fight again.
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It didn't last. The fourth and fifth rounds turned into a genuine back-and-forth war, with both fighters teeing off on each other and refusing to give an inch, but Ennis began picking his shots to the body, and Zayas started paying for it. A vicious right uppercut by Ennis eventually got through and buckled Zayas in the fifth, dropping him for a second time in the same round. By the time the bell rang, the referee had already warned Zayas's corner that he needed to see something more or the fight would be waved off.
Zayas never found an answer. Ennis kept the pressure on through the sixth, and by the seventh, the fight had turned into survival mode. Zayas, worn down by repeated body work, tried to create distance and find his legs, but Ennis sensed it and went hunting. A third knockdown, this one off a right uppercut and a series of hooks to open up a straight left, was the final word. Zayas told the referee he had nothing left, and his corner made the call, throwing in the towel to spare him further punishment.
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Zayas didn’t make excuses afterward. He credited Ennis and said he understood why his corner stepped in, framing it as their job to protect him even when he didn’t want it to end. It was a gracious response from a 23-year-old who had never tasted defeat and now knows exactly how heavy this one will sit.
As for Ennis, he made it clear he's not done climbing. He said he's ready for whoever promoter Eddie Hearn wants next, and a super fight against Sebastian Fundora or Vergil Ortiz Jr. both suddenly look extremely realistic. Fans on social media are already pushing for the Ortiz fight, and Ortiz himself didn't wait long to throw his hat in the ring. Just minutes after the final bell, he posted on Threads, "Yea I'm sleeping Jaron." Hearn, for his part, indicated he loves the idea of Ennis-Fundora, while noting Ortiz has been out of the ring for a year and would need to make some noise of his own to get back in the conversation.
JaronCris Esqueda - Matchroom Boxing
Jaron "Boots" Ennis is the new WBA and WBO junior middleweight champion after defeating Xander Zayas at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Whatever comes next, Saturday night made one thing clear. Boots Ennis isn’t just a star at 147. He’s a problem at 154, too, and the rest of the super welterweight division just got a very loud warning.