On June 27, at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, Xander Zayas vs Jaron Ennis headlined a Matchroom Boxing card in association with Top Rank for Zayas’ WBO/WBA super welterweight title. The entire main card streamed live on DAZN PPV. It was a career-best performance from Ennis, helping him win by seventh-round TKO to become the new unified WBO/WBA super welterweight champion. Vergil Ortiz Jr’s trainer, Robert Garcia, spoke to BoxingScene to answer the question of whether Ortiz would go straight into a showdown with “Boots.”
Jaron Ennis beats Xander Zayas in Brooklyn
Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs) found his groove quickly against Zayas (23-1, 13 KOs), scoring a knockdown from a well-timed left hand. Zayas had more joy in the second round, but still struggled to get a foothold in the fight until round three, when he seemingly stunned Ennis with two big right hands. “Boots” appeared to get his legs back fairly quickly and had some success of his own towards the end of the round.
Ennis enjoyed one of the most dominating rounds possible, scoring a knockdown with a huge uppercut, before delivering a one-sided beating on Zayas, who did well to hear the bell. The beating was so bad that the referee called a time-out to have Zayas checked.
Ennis increased the tempo in the seventh round, scoring another knockdown, which prompted the corner of Zayas to pull their man out of the fight, crowning Jaron Ennis the new unified WBO/WBA super welterweight champion.
Robert Garcia welcomes first fight back against Jaron Ennis
Vergil Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) has been out of the ring since last November, when he stopped Erickson Lubin in the second round. Since then, Ortiz himself was linked heavily with facing Ennis, but his extensive promotional issues put that plan on the backburner. It appears Ortiz is now getting nearer to a return, and when talking to BoxingScene, his trainer, Robert Garcia, was asked whether Ortiz would go straight into a fight with “Boots.” Garcia said:
“I already talked to the team. I talked to Vergil Sr. I talked to Vergil himself. We’ll go straight into the fight.“
“Vergil fought last November. Vergil, even though he’s been going through those issues with his promotion and all that, with his contract, whatever it is, he’s in the gym. He’s always training; he’s sparring. We will go straight into that fight,” added Garcia.
“It’s a huge fight. It’s a fight that I know we can win. So I would love to go straight into that fight, no problem at all,” said Garcia regarding a potential Ennis-Ortiz fight.
Featured Image Credit:
Amanda Westcott- Matchroom Boxing