Zayas vs Ennis Is Official For Brooklyn
Right then — this is the one. Zayas vs Ennis is locked in for June 27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and make no mistake, it is the best fight you can make at junior middleweight right now. Xander Zayas defends his WBO and WBA titles against Jaron "Boots" Ennis, and if you can't get excited about two unbeaten fighters in their prime sharing a ring with real belts on the line, I'm not sure boxing is for you.
Let's not beat around the bush. For months this was talk — a "superfight in the conversation" type of thing that the sport is so good at teasing and so bad at delivering. Not this time. The paper is signed, the date is set, and the first press conference has already happened in Brooklyn. Zayas vs Ennis is happening, and the 154-pound division just got serious.
What Zayas Brings
Xander Zayas is 23-0 with 13 knockouts, and at just 23 years old he is already the unified junior middleweight champion. He unified back in January in Puerto Rico, edging Abass Baraou on a split decision in a proper tear-up, and in doing so became the first Puerto Rican to unify at the weight. That is not a gimme record padded against journeymen — the lad has announced himself as the real deal at 154.
What I love about Zayas is his maturity. He boxes like a fighter ten years older than he is — patient, behind a lovely jab, picking his spots and never panicking. Against Baraou he showed he can win the rounds he needs to win when the fight is in the balance. That kind of ring IQ at his age is rare, and it is exactly what he is going to need against a monster like Boots.
What Ennis Brings
Jaron Ennis is one of the most feared punchers in the entire sport, and now he is moving up to 154 to chase a title in a second division. Ennis is 35-0 with 31 knockouts. Read that again. He unified the welterweight division with a brutal beating of Eimantas Stanionis, and he is the kind of fighter who can end your night with one shot from either hand. He's levels above most welterweights, and now he wants to prove the same a division up.
The question — and it is a proper question — is what the extra weight does to him. Welterweight Ennis hit like a truck. Junior-middleweight Ennis should still hit hard, but he's giving up natural size to a young, full-blooded 154-pounder in Zayas who has lived at the weight. That is the intrigue. Power travels, they say, but timing and sharpness do not always travel with it.
My Prediction
Here's where I plant my flag. I think Zayas vs Ennis is closer than the odds will tell you, but I am leaning towards Boots Ennis. The class, the power, the sheer finishing instinct — it is hard to pick against a man with a 31-knockout record who can change a fight in a heartbeat. I'll say Ennis by late stoppage, somewhere around rounds eight to ten, once he's solved the Zayas jab and started landing clean.
But I'd never write off Zayas. If he boxes smart, keeps it long, and drags Ennis into deep water where the weight starts to tell, a wide decision is absolutely on the cards. Either way, this is the kind of fight that makes you fall in love with boxing all over again. June 27 cannot come soon enough.