{"id":482657,"date":"2026-03-18T19:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482657\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T19:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:01:10","slug":"jaron-ennis-vs-xander-zayas-seen-as-real-test-for-both","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482657\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaron Ennis Vs Xander Zayas Seen As Real Test For Both"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hackett made it clear during his live that he doesn\u2019t view this as a risky move for just one side. In his eyes, it\u2019s balanced in a way most fights aren\u2019t anymore, where one name is usually brought in to serve the other. This one, he believes, would force both men to show where they really stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a healthy challenge for both,\u201d Hackett said on his channel. \u201cWhoever comes out on top in that fight, man\u2026 skyrocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the idea also important. A fight between Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. had been one of the more obvious directions, but with Vergil dealing with promotional issues that have slowed that path, Hackett\u2019s preferred alternative starts to carry more weight. Instead of waiting around for that situation to sort itself out, a fight with Xander, now holding the WBA and WBO titles at 154, becomes a live option that keeps Ennis moving.<\/p>\n

The value of the fight, as Hackett sees it, comes from what each fighter gains if they win. Boots has spent the last stretch of his career hearing the same complaint repeated, that people want to see him in with a recognizable, credible opponent. Hackett believes Zayas fits that description enough to quiet some of that talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Boots, people always saying, \u2018We just want to see him fight somebody,\u2019\u201d Hackett said. \u201cXander is a somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he flipped the angle and pointed out what the fight would mean for Zayas. Rather than building slowly or waiting for a title path to open up, Hackett sees this as a chance for him to change his standing in one night if he pulls it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Xander beat Boots, then he beat the boogeyman,\u201d he said. \u201cThat mean he\u2019s definitely somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hackett also noted that he didn\u2019t expect a fight like that to come together this early, which adds to why he likes it. In a sport where timing is often managed carefully, he sees real value in a matchup that pushes both fighters sooner than expected instead of stretching things out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think that fight would happen so early,\u201d Hackett said. \u201cBut this is boxing. People do have to step up to the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way Hackett talks about it, the appeal isn\u2019t just that the fight would be competitive. It\u2019s that it would settle two different conversations in one night, one around Ennis needing a name, and another around how real Zayas is at the top level.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fight that makes sense for both careers. For Xander, it would be his first time in with a credible opponent and a chance to show he\u2019s more than a fighter who was maneuvered into two belts. For Boots, it would give him his first recognizable opponent since moving up to 154 in 2025, after his only fight in the division so far ended in a first-round stoppage of little-known Uisma Lima.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hackett made it clear during his live that he doesn\u2019t view this as a risky move for just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-482657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}