With Zayas out of the way, ‘Boots’ Ennis looks to be undisputed

For years, Jaron “Boots” Ennis was viewed as a potential top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He just had to prove it.

Ennis put Xander Zayas down three times on his way to an emphatic seventh-round stoppage on Saturday to become the unified junior middleweight champion. The win cemented Ennis’ spot on ESPN’s list, as he beat a young, undefeated world champion. Ennis showcased superior offensive gifts, gutted out a rough Round 3 against an opponent that refused to go away and regained his composure, throttling Zayas with a wicked assortment of punches to get the stoppage.

While Ennis can now call himself a unified world champion in a second weight class and one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the sport, the fight with Zayas also showed vulnerability, flaws that his future opponents can take advantage of. That piques curiosity and excitement for what’s next for Boots.

Ennis came out of the gate fast, shredding Zayas with combinations on his way to an early knockdown in what looked like a runaway freight train. Then something happened: Ennis said he got “lazy” as Zayas put together a stunning rally in Round 3, hurting Ennis with right hands and hooks in what was one of the best rounds of 2026.

“I was chilling,” Ennis said about the third round. “I got a little lazy on the inside and got caught, but I was cool.”

Ennis steadied himself after a rocky round and put Zayas down twice more before securing the win.

But the way that third round played out — whether it was Ennis indeed being lazy or it exposed defensive deficiencies in his game — raised his profile significantly in a way that is less about boring dominance and more about bringing dramatic moments to fans.

That’s the definition of must-see television and exactly what it takes to make a star.

With that out of the way, the real question is: What’s next?

Ennis appears to be enamored with the opportunity to become an undisputed champion, which means fights against WBC champion Sebastian Fundora and IBF titleholder Josh Kelly will almost certainly be in the Philadelphian’s crosshairs.

Then there’s the long, looming fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. that everyone has been waiting for the past several years. Ennis is now in the driver’s seat as the world champion, and the choice will be his.

“Undisputed is the goal, most definitely,” Ennis said of his options. “If we can’t get those other fights or they aren’t available, then we’ll look for Vergil.”

A fight with Kelly is very possible, as both he and Ennis are under the Matchroom promotional umbrella. But the British boxer hasn’t fought since beating Bakhram Murtazaliev in January and will likely look to defend his title before facing Ennis in a unification fight.

Fundora is an intriguing option and is coming off a resounding stoppage of Keith Thurman in March. Fundora doesn’t have a fight lined up now and would present a significant challenge to Ennis with his advantages in height (6-foot-5½ vs. 5-foot-10) and reach (80 inches vs. 74 inches).

Realistically, neither of those options is as tantalizing as Ortiz, who possesses power with 22 of his 24 wins coming by knockout. There are questions regarding how Ennis’ chin would hold up against the power of Ortiz. How would Saturday’s fight have ended if Ennis was eating punches from Ortiz instead of Zayas in Round 3?

“I’m trying to tell you I’m really different,” Ennis said about a potential fight against Ortiz.

Ortiz called Ennis out on social media and suggested he’d stop him.

Ennis isn’t buying it: “He gets hurt a lot, he’s flat-footed and he’s been dropped multiple times, but when he gets hit by me, it’s going to be different.”

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn likes all the options Ennis has and won’t rule out any of them. However, he made it clear that whatever is next for Ennis will be big.

“We are not going to sit there full of arrogance like some people would right now and say tough luck, Vergil Ortiz,” Hearn said. “What we say is we love the big fights, but we took that Vergil Ortiz fight. [Ennis] signed for that fight, right? We took that fight for no belts. We took it for the fans to prove he was the best.

“Unfortunately for Vergil Ortiz [that fight didn’t happen], we did an unbelievable job to land the unified world championship [against Zayas] and now [Ennis is] the unified world champion. So, sorry, Vergil, in a way, we want to be on this, but we don’t rule out that fight.”