Jaron Ennis prepares for title fight against Xander Zayas in Atlantic City

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 27: Jaron 'Boots' Ennis (R) throws a punch at Xander Zayas (L) during their WBO and WBA World Super-Welterweight title bout at Barclays Center on June 27, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/Getty Images) | Getty Images During the post-fight press conference at the Barclays Center, Boots Ennis appeared at the dais to give his impression on his knockout win over Xander Zayas, where he goes from here, all while brushing off criticisms from Vergil Ortiz and Terence Crawford. Check out some excerpts below. Boots on what was going through his mind during the back and forth action in the third round “I was chilling. Cool, calm and collected…A little lazy on the inside, got caught with a good shot but I was cool…When it’s madness going on, I just get calm and just be patient.” On how he viewed the fight “Solid competition. Xander a great fighter, I hope he’s okay. Whether he move up to 60 or stay at 54, I think he’ll be champion again.” Bozy Ennis on getting on Boots after round 3 “He like to have fun, I got to calm him down sometimes. He get a little lazy, he lean back sometimes because it be easy. You can see like he love to fight, man. He can box. You can see first round, how many jabs [Zayas] got hit with. Then you throw the right hand behind it, then you throw the left hook behind it. He could’ve just kept on jabbing him. He like to play, he like to have fun. I always tell him to have fun doing it though, but get them out of there, though.” Boots on Vergil Ortiz saying he KOs him “[Laughs]. Why he didn’t take the fight in the beginning? Bro, he be talking. I’m trying to tell you, I’m really different. He going to see firsthand. Because he gets hurt, a lot! He flat-footed and he been dropped multiple times. When he get hit by me it’s going to be different.” On how he would grade his performance against Zayas “I would probably give myself like a C. I know I’m way better than that. Like a C+, I’m way better than that. I listened to the corner a little bit, not too much. They was telling me to do speed and I was one-shot popping. It’s the shots that you don’t see and I should’ve been using a little bit more speed but everything is going to be good. We going to go back to the lab and get ready and take over this division, sharpen up.” On if he thinks the stoppage came at the right time “I ain’t going to lie, I should’ve probably stopped him in like the fifth. He was taking a lot of punches and things like that. But, yeah, that’s about it.” On Terence Crawford throwing some subtle shade at him right after the fight “We ain’t worried about what he saying. We focused on the task at hand, taking over this division. We ain’t worried about no retired fighters.” On his mindset after scoring an early knockdown “The first knockdown I wasn’t really trying to rush it. I knew he a game fighter, solid fundamentals, he a solid fighter and he was champion for a reason. So you can’t just go in there, rush, and try to get the knockout. You to be patient and that’s what I did. But the second knockdown, I definitely thought he was gone.” On those who criticize him for getting hit too easily “I mean, you can say that but it’s me having little lazy moments and just not like being sharp like how I’m supposed to be and I got to get out of that habit. Little lazy moments, and we’re going to work on that in the gym and fix those things.”

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Jaron “Boots” Ennis won the WBA and WBO super welterweight titles tonight in Brooklyn, stopping Xander Zayas in the seventh round of a hard-fought, highly-entertaining battle. Zayas (23-1, 13 KO) found himself on the receiving end of Ennis’ outstanding offensive capabilities right from the opening bell, and also found himself on the canvas in the very opening round. But despite a torrid start from Ennis (36-0, 32 KO), Zayas showed a tremendous amount of heart and toughness, weathering the storm successfully enough to battle back in the third and fourth rounds and give himself some hope. He appeared to hurt Ennis, though he was still being forced to trade to give himself his best shot to actually win the fight. The trading was never the best idea, and it came back to haunt Zayas when Ennis absolutely dominated the fifth round, scoring another knockdown and just brutalizing the defending titlist. The sixth round slowed the fight down a bit from both sides, but Ennis again went on the attack in the seventh, scoring another knockdown, at which point Zayas’ corner conceded defeat, and the fighter did not disagree with their call. “I knew he would come forward, and we were ready for it,” Ennis said after the fight. “I just took my time, stayed patient, and listened to my corner.” Ennis said that when he was hurt in the third round, he was “being lazy,” and that it’s something he needs to sharpen up, but that he wasn’t worried about it. Ennis also credited Zayas’ toughness: “He’s a grown man. He’s durable. He’s a big guy. I knew he was going to be able to take some punches. … I had respect for him. He didn’t have to take this fight, he could have faced somebody else. But he wanted to test himself against one of the best, and I commend him on that.” ‘You come back and get better’ On his end, Zayas made no excuses, and said he was proud of his performance. “It was an amazing night. I showed tonight that if you dream big, sometimes you come up short, but it’s part of the journey. Congratulations to Boots, he did what he needed to do, and he deserved the victory tonight,” he said in the ring after the fight. “I’m happy with my performance. It was not what I was expecting, not what I trained for, but I knew I had one of the best in front of me. … He hurt me in the first round and my legs went away for a couple of rounds. … Then I hurt him, but he got me again. You learn and you come back and get better.” Zayas said he would “take some time off” with his family, then “reset and see what’s next,” possibly with a move up to middleweight. “He won as the champion he is and I lost like the gentleman I am,” he said. “Respect to Boots, take over the 154 division. You deserve everything.” Who will Boots Ennis fight next? Ennis was asked who he wants next, and whether it might be more title belts, or some “unfinished business” with Vergil Ortiz Jr, who is reportedly nearing the end of his issues with Golden Boy Promotions. “Give me Vergil, or bring on them belts, it doesn’t matter who it is,” he said. “I’m taking over this division. This weight division is mine.” Promoter Eddie Hearn also chimed in, saying that IBF titleholder Josh Kelly will fight on July 25 but is in the mix for later, and that they have spoken with PBC about WBC titlist Sebastian Fundora, with an eye on Ennis going undisputed at 154.

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ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY - APRIL 11: Jaron Ennis weighs in for his IBF, WBA and Ring Magazine welterweight championship fight against Eimantas Stanionis at the Circus Maximus at Caesars Atlantic City on April 11, 2025 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images) | Getty Images Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis sat down for a pre-fight interview with Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora on behalf of DAZN to talk about tomorrow’s title shot at unified champion Xander Zayas. During the interview Boots would be asked about his preparations for this fight and his assessment of his opponent. Here are some final excerpts from the fighter between the pair settle it inside the ring. Boots on preparing a game plan for Xander Zayas instead of Vergil Ortiz “They two different fighters. You know what you’re getting out of Vergil, he doing to come forward, bring the pressure. But with Xander, he a different style. He can box, he’ll come forward, he’ll move, he’ll do a little bit of everything. So for this camp we had a little bit of everything in our camp.” On how he expects Zayas to fight “I don’t care how he come. Whatever he do, it don’t matter. We ready all the way around the board, whether he come forward, whether he try to box, he stay there. We’re ready for every aspect of whatever he got coming…It’s going to be goodnight either way.” On the best sparring he had in this camp “I feel like I had all great work. I had some up-and-coming guys, sharp work. I sparred a lot of people for this fight…I sparred Boo Boo Andrade. It’s so many people I’m going to miss a lot of people [that I worked with during this camp].” On Zayas believing he has the superior footwork “I think he’s delusional. I feel like leading up to this fight, every time I hear him talk he just be talking to say anything just because he in front of a camera. I feel like he don’t know what to say and he just excited and just say anything.”