WBO and WBA junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas and challenger Jaron \u201cBoots\u201d Ennis met face to face at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday to preview their June 27 clash, a fight that will stream live on DAZN PPV and marks the first major co-promotion between Matchroom and Top Rank under their new partnership.<\/p>\n
The tone was pointed from the start. Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) dismissed the 23-year-old champion\u2019s chances outright, telling the crowd he believes Zayas has overreached by accepting the fight. Zayas (23-0, 13 KOs), who became the youngest unified champion in boxing when he added the WBA title to his WBO belt with a split decision over Abass Baraou earlier this year, was just as direct.<\/p>\n
The Money Question<\/p>\n
Ennis introduced a financial wrinkle that added an edge to the back and forth. He revealed that Zayas declined a proposed 55-45 purse split favoring the winner, framing the refusal as a tell. \u201cIf he\u2019s so confident, why didn\u2019t he take the 55-45 split for the winner?\u201d Ennis said. \u201cI think that shows a lot. There\u2019s levels to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zayas did not engage on the purse structure. His focus stayed on legacy and what the fight means for his career. \u201cAnybody could have taken the easy route and just get an easy win,\u201d Zayas said. \u201cI want to fight the best. I want to show that I\u2019m the best every time I step into the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearn\u2019s Admission<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most revealing comments came from Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn, who admitted he would have steered Zayas away from this fight entirely if the roles were reversed. \u201cIf I represented Xander Zayas, there is no way I would let him take this fight,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cI\u2019d be saying, \u2018Listen, we\u2019ll go to MSG, we\u2019ll fill that out and we\u2019ll do another homecoming fight in Puerto Rico. We\u2019ll milk it.\u2019 But this fight is what boxing needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a striking admission from a promoter not known for underselling his own events, and it underscored the degree of risk Zayas is absorbing. Ennis has stopped 31 of his 35 opponents and has been widely regarded as the most avoided fighter in boxing for the better part of three years.<\/p>\n
The Size Factor<\/p>\n
Zayas pushed back on the narrative that Ennis is simply too big and too powerful for the division. \u201cEverybody at 147 was always smaller than him,\u201d Zayas said. \u201c154 is different. You got these guys coming from 190, 185, 200. It\u2019s different.\u201d When asked what advantages he holds, Zayas was succinct: \u201cEverything. He has never faced an athletic fighter like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ennis was equally confident but more clinical. \u201cI\u2019m faster than you think. I\u2019m stronger and I have a better IQ, too,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be in for a long night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top Rank president Todd DuBoef framed the matchup as a generational moment for the sport, calling it a fight between two young, undefeated fighters willing to risk everything in their primes. Zayas\u2019 trainer Javiel Centeno said the team had studied Ennis for some time and identified vulnerabilities they believe they can exploit. Bozy Ennis, Jaron\u2019s father and trainer, countered that his son operates on levels Zayas has not yet seen.<\/p>\n
June 27 will answer the question. For now, neither side is pretending this is anything other than what it is: the most dangerous fight either man has taken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBO and WBA junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas and challenger Jaron \u201cBoots\u201d Ennis met face to face at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-191289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}