Jaron "Boots" Ennis dropped Xander Zayas in the opening round and then dominated the fight to score a seventh-round TKO victory to win the WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles on Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Zayas had a great third round, and parts of the fourth, rocking Ennis with right hands, but Ennis took over in the fifth, dropping Zayas again before he finished in the seventh.
Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs), a former unified welterweight champion, moved up to 154 pounds in October and defeated Uisma Lima by first-round TKO to claim the WBA interim belt. Although he entered the fight as the challenger, Ennis was a -500 favorite, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
Zayas (23-1, 13 KOs) won the WBO title with a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Garcia Perez in July 2025. He added the WBA belt with a split decision win over Abass Baraou in January. This was Zayas' first professional defeat.
Andreas Hale was in Brooklyn with live coverage, including undercard results and round-by-round analysis of the main event.