Ennis Beats Zayas to Become Unified 154lb Champion: One of the Performances of the Year

[Cheeky Blake]

Jaron Boots Ennis defeated Xander Zayas by unanimous decision on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to become the unified WBA, WBO and WBC junior middleweight champion of the world in what many ringside observers called the performance of the year in boxing. Ennis was extraordinary across 12 rounds, combining his trademark combination speed with a disciplined game plan that negated Zayas's usually effective counter-punching and gradually broke down the Puerto Rican's resistance. The scorecards were 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, all in Ennis's favour, reflecting a dominant performance without the drama of a knockout.

Zayas, who came in as a legitimate unified champion with 23 wins and zero defeats, showed tremendous heart and warrior qualities. He was dropped in the ninth round when an Ennis right hand caught him clean on the temple and he somehow got up and finished the round. He came back competitive in the 10th but Ennis was simply too complete a fighter at too high a level of performance on this night. Zayas's corner considered stopping the fight in the 11th but the champion's pride kept him upright and he made it to the final bell.

Ennis is now a two-division world champion having previously unified the welterweight division. The performance answers the questions that existed about his transition to 154lbs. The next destination is obvious: either Crawford comes back or there is a super fight at 160 with Canelo or Benavidez. Boots Ennis at 28 years old and at the peak of his powers is a genuinely elite talent and Saturday night showed the boxing world exactly that.

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