The unified junior middleweight champion dismissed fears surrounding Ennis and insisted he sees opportunities others have missed
Xander Zayas is not buying into the fear factor surrounding Jaron Ennis. Ahead of their June 27 fight at Barclays Center, the unbeaten champion said Ennis has never shared the ring with a fighter who brings his combination of speed, power and boxing ability.
“He breathes the same oxygen I breathe. Bleeds the same way I bleed. There’s no difference in him and me,” said Zayas to BoxingScene when asked about facing Ennis in next month’s DAZN pay-per-view main event. “I’m not afraid of anybody. The only man I’m scared of is the man upstairs. There’s no one else I fear. Anybody else, they’re going to have to hustle with me.”
A lot of fighters talk confidently before facing Boots, but most of them still sound careful when describing him. Zayas doesn’t. That’s the interesting part here. He’s speaking like someone who believes Ennis is the one about to deal with a different kind of problem.
“I don’t think he’s faced a fighter like that yet,” said Zayas. “I’ve got great speed, great power, good defense. I know how to move. I know how to fight. I know how to counter.”
Ennis enters the fight with the bigger reputation and the heavier knockout numbers, but Zayas has quietly built confidence through his recent performances. He captured the WBO title with a decision over Jorge Garcia Perez and followed it by taking the WBA belt from Abass Baraou earlier this year.
Zayas also made it clear he isn’t obsessing over studying every second of Ennis’ career heading into the bout.
“I’ve seen clips of what I need to do and what we’re seeing, but not the whole fight,” he said. “There’s difficulties with every fighter. They all bring something different to the table, and ‘Boots’ Ennis is not the exception. He fights righty-lefty, takes good angles. But there’s lots of things I can take advantage of.”
The confidence from Zayas doesn’t come across as fake bravado. He sounds more like a young champion who genuinely believes the fear around Ennis has gotten out of control. June 27 will show whether he’s seeing something the rest of the division doesn’t.