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 an elite talent and Saturday night showed the boxing world exactly that.

Xander Zayas Vs Jaron Ennis Live Results, Highlights And Round-By-Round Updateswww.boxing247.com

[FrostDrifter]

117-111 on one card for a fight between two elite champions where Zayas was dropped in the ninth but got up and kept competing says everything about how good Ennis was. This was not a split decision robbery, this was a clear, dominant win

[Abbie22]

Zayas getting knocked down in the ninth, surviving, and coming back to compete in the 10th and 11th rounds is the kind of performance that defines a fighter's character even in defeat. He was not good enough on the night but he showed exactly why he will be back

[John]

Ennis at 28 with two unified title reigns already on his record is starting to enter the conversation as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. The speed, the ring IQ and the power are all elite. What is the ceiling here

[Lucy_35]

The Crawford comeback or Canelo fight discussion starts immediately now. Canelo moving up to face Ennis at 154 would be the most commercially significant boxing match available. Whether either man wants it is the question

[Sinead77]

Benavidez at 160 making sense as the natural next fight for Ennis is interesting because Benavidez has been calling out Canelo for years and fighting Ennis first builds his profile further. The 160 to 168 division landscape is being built in real time

[Bright Hermit]

Eddie Hearn was in the arena watching and spoke to Ennis post-fight. Whatever the promotional implications the fact that the world's biggest boxing promoter was at ringside when Ennis unified is not a coincidence

[VectorDB Cobra]

Barclays Center in Brooklyn for a junior middleweight unification fight sold out and delivered the atmosphere the occasion deserved. The New York boxing crowd gave Zayas enormous love despite his loss. They recognised that they had watched something special