- Ennis officially vacates the WBA interim super welterweight belt — a paper title he picked up earlier this year
- Move clears him to be ranked at the top of the WBO contender list ahead of the June 27 Zayas fight in Brooklyn
- The unified WBO/WBA super welterweight title fight at Barclays Center remains locked in — Boots has cleared every administrative obstacle in front of it
The Cleanest Move Boots Has Made All Year
Right then. Jaron Ennis has officially vacated the WBA interim super welterweight title, and frankly he should have done it weeks ago. The interim belt was never the point. The point is the unified WBO and WBA title fight against Xander Zayas at Barclays Center on June 27, and the WBA's recognition rules were going to give him grief if he held two of their things at once.
Make no mistake — this is not a fighter giving anything up. This is paperwork. Boots was never going to defend an interim belt while he had a unification on the desk. He has just cleared the desk so the rest can happen.
Why The WBO Cares
The WBO is the one ranking body in boxing that genuinely does not recognise the other organisations' titles when it suits them. To be the top contender in their division you have to be ranked by them on their terms. Holding a WBA bauble was making Boots look like a man with split allegiances on paper, even though every boxing fan with two eyes knows where he sits in the food chain at 154.
Vacate the interim, get ranked at the top, walk in as the official challenger, no quibbles, no spurious sanction-body letters at the eleventh hour. Proper professional move from a fighter and a promoter who do not want any noise around the biggest 154lb fight of the year.
What Zayas Sees
Zayas's camp has been watching this dance for months. They have always been fine with the fight — Top Rank has been pushing for it since the new year. The administrative side is what slowed it down. Now Ennis has done his bit, the contract has the right names on it, and there is a clean WBO/WBA unification on June 27 with nothing in the way.
Zayas is a brilliant young fighter. He is fast, he is composed, he is unbeaten, and he has won a world title at 21 years of age. He is also walking into the biggest test of his career against a man who would be welterweight world champion right now if he had not vacated to come up here. That fight on its merits is fascinating without any extra noise.
The Pick — Already On Record
I have said it before, I will say it again. Boots Ennis wins this. Not because Zayas is bad — he is brilliant — but because Ennis is on a different level of pure fighter right now. Twelve rounds, a late stoppage or a wide decision, and Boots announces himself at 154 in the same way he announced himself at 147.
That fight is on June 27. Until then, the only news from this story is admin — and even the admin is going Ennis's way. If you know, you know.