Jaron 'Boots' Ennis cracks ESPN’s junior middleweight No. 1 spot after Zayas
Ennis’s second-round KO of Zayas vaults him to the top of ESPN’s 154-pound rankings and reshapes the division’s power structure.
1 spot in the junior middleweight division after knocking out Xander Zayas in two rounds at Mohegan Sun Arena on June 15, 2024. The 26-year-old southpaw landed a compact left hook at 2:47 of the second round to floor Zayas, who rose on unsteady legs before referee David Fields waved off the contest. 1 claim at 154 pounds.
3 behind unified titlist Tim Tszyu. The shake-up reflects Ennis’s 2024 résumé: a 3-0 start to the year capped by a wide unanimous decision over Bakhtiyar Eyubov in March, plus the Zayas scalp that erased any doubt about his elite status. His rise mirrors the division’s broader shift toward younger, high-pressure fighters who blend volume with knockout power.
