Ennis demolishes Zayas in seventh, unifies 154-pound titles
Jaron 'Boots' Ennis dismantled Xander Zayas with a seventh-round TKO to seize the WBA and WBO junior middleweight belts, silencing doubters and stamping his dominance.
Jaron 'Boots' Ennis dismantled Xander Zayas in the seventh round, halting the challenger via technical knockout to unify the WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles. The victory erased any remaining skepticism about Ennis’s elite status, confirming him as the undisputed force at 154 pounds. The fight, staged at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night, saw Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) dictate terms from the opening bell.
Zayas (18-2, 13 KOs), a late replacement for an injured Erickson Lubin, started aggressively but found no answers to Ennis’s sharp combinations and relentless pressure. By the seventh, the referee waved off the contest after Zayas absorbed a left hook that left him stumbling into the ropes, his corner waving the towel in surrender. The stoppage marked Ennis’s fifth consecutive knockout and his second title win in as many fights, following a first-round demolition of Carlos Adames in August.
