Jaron "Boots" Ennis Wins Wild Slugfest Saturay Night

It was a thrilling slugfest Saturday night in Brooklyn, New York and in the end Jaron "Boots" Ennis was simply too good for unified junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas pummeling him into submission with a 7th round TKO to capture the WBA/WBO junior middleweight titles.

The bout headlined the Matchroom Boxing / DAZN pay-per-view from the Barclays Center and the crowd that paid their money, either in person or for the broadcast, certainly got their money's worth from the main event.

From the very beginning the Philly born Ennis, now 36-0, 33, KOs got control of the fight in the first round by out fighting the bigger Zayas. Out of the southpaw stance, he repeatedly scored with straight left hands and eventually dropped the champion with one with  still more than a minute remaining in the round. He caught Zayas with several more good shots  and Zayas had to hold on just to survive.

With the crowd on its feet roaring in round two things slowed a little, but the Puerto Rican Zayas continued to stand right in front of the challenger and take punches. Then, in the third round the champion turned the tide back in his favor buckling Ennis' legs briefly with a big right hand and backing him along the ropes.

The pro  Zayas crowd was now really roaring, as the 23 year old champion continued to score, but then Ennis seemed to recover after about 20 or 30 seconds and was actually bombing back on Zayas.

That third round will be a candidate for round of the year for 2026.

As the fight progressed into the fourth, clearly Ennis, the former unified welterweight champ, was calm and landing the bigger shots almost at will. Zayas, now 23-1, wasn't moving laterally and  appeared to be wearing down already. Moving into the orthodox stance Ennis would score with one- twos with a straight left jab followed by a right hook. He was also hammering Zayas to the body.

Then, in the fifth round he dropped Zayas for a second time with a big right uppercut as Zayas was trying to come in throwin a punch,. The champion was hurt and only got to his feet at the count of nine looking unsteady.

With plenty of time left in the fifth, the challenger continued to hammer Zayas with rights and lefts until the bell.

More slugging happened in the 6th round and Zayas actually landed a couple of good right hands himself but Ennis responded and eventually hurt him again,

The fight had now turned one sided and Ennis wasted no time going back on the attack in the seventh. He landed a barrage of six or seven solid shots that culminated with a right to the body and then a right-left to the head. Zayas took a knee, while down for the third time and  his corner was then up on the ring apron waving at him and referee Harvey Dock stop the fight for a TKO for the new champ.

"I was enjoying myself. I was having fun putting on a show for the fans. And I got the job done. And, I appreciate Xander Zayas for taking this, because he didn't have to," Ennis said in the ring post fight.

He was then asked whether he was surprised Zayas chose to slug with him right away?

"No. Not at all. I knew he could do a little bit of both. Like I said before in the press conference, he's gonna come for it. We were ready for whatever he brought to the table."

Ennis later said, "I knew I was in control from round one. I was in there having a lot of fun and putting on a show... doing my thing."

The tremendous action has this fight already in the conversation for fight of the year and the 29 year old Ennis now becomes a huge player at 154 lb.

Also, at just  23 years of age, Zayas deserves a lot of credit for just taking the fight, when he could have fought a lesser challenger and also credit him for the beating he was taking especially in the fourth and fifth rounds and yet, fighting on.

He was asked in the ring about the toe to toe strategy?

"He hurt me a little bit in the first round. My legs went away for a couple of rounds. So I needed to find them. Then, they told me to stick and move a little bit. That's why I started doing it. Then, in round three I think I hurt him. So, I felt like I could walk down a little bit more, get my legs back on me. But, he got me again. Part of the business. You learn. You comeback and get better."

In the final analysis Ennis was just too tough and ended all questioning of whether his punching power would translate at the higher weight division?

Now we will wait to see if in this will get another unification fight with either IBF Champion Josh Kelly or WBC Champion Sebastian Fundora. He can also choose to reignite the discussions with top unbeaten, contender Vergil Ortiz.

Their fight fell apart in January  when Ortiz and his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy, were having a dispute over the money and could not agree to make the fight. They ended up suing each other.

That set the stage for Ennis to instead fight for the title against Zayas on Saturday night and he made the most of it with his performance.