Roy Jones Jr. Says Boots Ennis Shouldn’t Fear Puerto Rican Crowd Against Xander Zayas

Jones says Ennis should ignore the expected pro-Zayas crowd and focus only on the opponent in front of him

Roy Jones Jr. does not believe Jaron “Boots” Ennis should spend a second worrying about the atmosphere awaiting him against Xander Zayas. Ahead of the June 27 fight at Barclays Center, Jones dismissed concerns about a pro-Zayas crowd and said Ennis only needs to focus on the man across the ring.

With Zayas expected to draw strong support from New York’s large Puerto Rican fan base, some have questioned whether the pro-Zayas crowd could play a factor on fight night. Jones, who fought Felix Trinidad in front of a pro-Trinidad audience in New York, dismissed the idea entirely.

“He don’t need to worry about the crowd at all. The crowd ain’t fighting. Only him and Xander are fighting,” Jones said to Fighthype when asked whether Ennis should be concerned about the hostile atmosphere.

“It’s not like they gonna have a gang against a gang. No, it’s just you. You know what I’m saying? When I fought there, I loved the crowd, but I know most of them gonna be cheering for Tito.”

Jones explained that fighters cannot allow themselves to become distracted by the emotions inside the arena.

“That’s cool. That’s their man. What you expect them to do? So yeah, they going to be cheering for him,” Jones said.

“You only going to fight him in that ring. You got to worry about fighting nobody but him. That’s why they got a referee. They got judges. They got security. And you ain’t fighting one person, you know, one person. So, and that’s all you got to worry about.”

Ennis and Zayas are scheduled to meet on June 27 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. While Zayas is expected to receive strong support from New York’s Puerto Rican community, Jones believes the only challenge Ennis needs to solve is the one standing across the ring from him.