Xander Zayas is seven days away from fighting for his first world title, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his sights set on something bigger down the line — a showdown with Jaron “Boots” Ennis. During a recent interview with Boxing News Online, Zayas mentioned that he’d been open to fighting the Philadelphia phenom in the future. He also pointed out that he shares a manager with Ennis’s stablemate, Andy Cruz, and would be easy to find in the event the fight becomes available.
“[Jaron Ennis is] a big guy, so [the weight jump] was necessary for him, and it’s exciting to have him in the division,” he told Boxing News Online. “He’ll know where to find us. My manager works with Andy Cruz [Ennis’ stablemate], so his team knows where to contact me if they ever want to make something happen.”
Zayas will challenge Jorge Garcia Perez for the vacant WBO Super Welterweight Championship on Saturday, July 26, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. One week out from fight night, the Puerto Rican prospect turned title challenger is a sizeable -400 favorite, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Meanwhile, Ennis is still enjoying the spoils of his last outing in the welterweight division, a stoppage win against previously unbeaten Eimantas Stanionis. Since then, Ennis’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has indicated that the unified welterweight champion will move up and challenge unbeaten super welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“So we got asked if we’d fight Vergil Ortiz on the August 16th card, which we said, ‘yes, we’d be interested.’ Vergil came back and said ‘I’m not ready till later in the year’ right? Then we decided to lock in a fight for Boots end of September, beginning of October,” Hearn told Fight Hub TV. “Then Turki came back and said ‘Do you wanna look at the fight for November 22nd?’ and we said ‘Look we’re taking this fight as our first fight at 54, we will agree the Vergil Ortiz fight in the process.’”
While things are worked out for Ennis, Zayas will look to take care of his side of things on July 26 in New York. He will be joined by Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington of Brooklyn in the co-main event.
