Zayas vs Ennis Is The Unbeaten Unification That Sells Itself
Right then — let's get straight to it. Zayas vs Ennis on June 27 at the Barclays Center is the kind of unbeaten-versus-unbeaten fight this sport does not make often enough, and Xander Zayas has decided he is not going to spend the next fortnight treating Jaron 'Boots' Ennis like a ghost. Good. The unified WBO and WBA junior middleweight champion has looked the part every time he has stepped up, and a fighter who fears his opponent before the first bell has already lost half the rounds.
Make no mistake, the Zayas vs Ennis matchup is dangerous for the Puerto Rican. Boots is one of the most naturally gifted fighters on the planet, a slick, two-handed switch-hitter who has stopped 31 of his 35 opponents. But Zayas has not blinked. "He is just another man in front of my legacy," is the gist of his message, and that mindset is exactly what a young champion needs walking into the biggest night of his career.
The Size Story Everyone Is Talking About
Here is the wrinkle that makes Zayas vs Ennis so fascinating. Boots has spent his whole career as a proper welterweight, a big 147-pounder who bullied the division. Now he is moving up to 154 to chase Zayas, and at the first face-off the champion reckoned he felt it — that the move up may not suit Ennis the way the diehards assume. Zayas is the bigger man at the weight, the one who has built his body around junior middleweight, and that is not nothing against a fighter carrying new muscle into a 12-round war.
Let's not beat around the bush, though. Talent travels through weight classes, and Boots Ennis is dripping with it. If anyone can stroll up a division and look like he has always lived there, it is him. The size edge in Zayas vs Ennis is real, but it is a factor, not a force field.
Where Zayas vs Ennis Is Won And Lost
For me, this fight comes down to two things: whether Zayas can keep it long and busy, and whether Ennis's new frame holds up over the championship rounds. Zayas is a beautiful boxer behind the jab, he turns over combinations and he does not get dragged into rough-house exchanges unless he chooses to. If he keeps Zayas vs Ennis at range and banks rounds, he gives himself every chance.
The danger is obvious. Ennis can box southpaw or orthodox, he digs to the body brilliantly, and he announces himself the second he finds a rhythm. Give him a stationary target and he is levels above almost everyone at the weight. Zayas cannot stand and trade with him in the pocket and expect to come out clean.
My Verdict On Zayas vs Ennis
I will not sit on the fence. I think Boots Ennis is the best fighter in this Zayas vs Ennis equation, and over 12 rounds class usually tells. I am calling Ennis by clear, possibly wide, decision — somewhere around 116-112 — with the body work breaking Zayas down in the second half. That said, if the size talk is more than noise and Ennis fades late, Zayas is sharp enough to steal it down the stretch. Either way, this is a proper fight between two unbeaten men with everything to lose, and on June 27 in Brooklyn one of them stops being a prospect and becomes a problem for the whole division. If you know, you know.