GUTS FOR GLORY
a large head that would serve as an ample target. The two squabbled over a loosely proposed 55/45 purse split, the winner taking the extra 10%, with Ennis suggesting that Zayas’ refusal to accept those terms was a sign of low confidence. In turn, Zayas touted his own physical advantages in the fight – height and reach – and questioned Ennis’ defensive capabilities. “I just feel like he gets frustrated when he doesn’t get his way, and he’s going to be frustrated all night. I’m referring to all the fights that he’s been frustrated in, and there’s been a couple,” said Zayas. Ennis sees things differently. “Y’all media guys keep pushing this narrative that I’m getting hit all crazy, this, that and the third,” he said. “But if you watch these guys, when I tell you these boys are getting hit clean, they’re getting out of the ring with hickeys, knots, bleeding. Watch any of my fights, bro. I don’t be having nothing.” Boots is one of the sport’s most visually stunning fighters to watch, from his eccentric, fur-laced in- ring outfits to the blinding hand speed and offensive creativity. At his core, though, he is a merchant of knockouts. Ennis has the hand, foot and processing speed to simply outbox the bulk of the opposition he could conceivably face in his life, but that has never seemed to be enough for him. During his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian in 2024, Ennis was soundly winning a one-sided but entertaining fight against an opponent who was able to absorb some of his heaviest shots. On the DAZN broadcast of the bout, corner microphones listened in as Ennis was displeased round after round. Not because he wasn’t winning, but because he hadn’t yet knocked Chukhadzhian out. It’s the striver’s dilemma that has also helped make Ennis great. It’s the reason why he’s renowned as one of boxing’s most fervent gym rats, hanging around before and after his own training sessions to
who can flip the switch and get down and dirty. The sport is not unlike any other art, martial or otherwise, where knowledge and influence travel and create new fusions, particularly in a world where a large chunk of previously broadcast boxing is available online. In the case of Philadelphia and Puerto Rico, there may be something more direct at play when it comes to their similarities. Philadelphia has the second-largest
Puerto Rican population in the country, next to the city that Zayas and Ennis will fight in come June. North Philly in particular has produced the likes of Danny Garcia and Gabriel Rosado, two fighters equally as comfortable with being flashy as they are with being gritty. “Puerto Ricans and Philly fighters are very similar. Being a Philly guy of Puerto Rican descent, man, those styles, they’re going to clash,” Rosado told The Ring. He has been in the gym with both Ennis and Zayas. “Puerto Ricans and Philly fighters have a lot of pride. They have a skill set. They can box. They have ability. But when it comes down to it, we’ll get gritty. You have it with Danny
Garcia, a Puerto Rican Philly fighter, [and] me, a Puerto Rican Philly fighter, right? We had this boxing ability but we loved to mix it up. I think that’s just the perfect combination.” Precisely how Ennis’ and Zayas’ styles will synthesize on the night is more difficult to visualize, as both men are dealing with elements in an opponent that they haven’t yet contended with. The welterweight version of Ennis was seldom if ever at a size disadvantage in a fight, while Zayas has seldom, if ever, been at a speed disadvantage during his reign at junior middleweight. In certain ways, they’ll find themselves in a role reversal as compared to the bulk of their careers. “I think with this fight, what’s gonna be different for Boots is that he’s gonna be fighting a guy his size, if not bigger, and a guy with a great skill set. Xander’s gonna punch with Boots, giving him the opportunity to land. Boots has great reflexes, but he does get hit,” said Rosado. “I see Xander matching him when they throw combinations, and I think it’s going to come down to will in this fight. Who wants it more? Who’s gonna bite down? That’s what’s gonna make this a great fight, because a Puerto Rican and a Philly fighter just have a bunch of pride. I think they’re gonna bring the best out of each other.” They’ll also bring out the best in boxing fandom. A jam-packed Barclays Center, which has emerged as one of the sport’s glamour venues since the mid-2010s, filled with two of the most vocal and educated fan bases, eager to anoint a new legend. The barbershops in Philly’s Germantown will spend weeks boasting about how Boots will win, and in San Juan’s Cantera how Xander is going to pull it off. In North Philly and Spanish Harlem, there will be no consensus. But by the end of the night, there will be. The winner will be considered the division’s best, something only attainable when you follow in the footsteps of legends.
Ennis had too much of everything for Eimantas Stanionis last April.
Zayas ruined Slawa Spomer’s perfect record with a TKO 9 in 2025.
work with anyone from local kids to stablemate Andy Cruz. Zayas may not have the flashy attributes that jump off the screen the way Ennis does, but he has a report card that is rock solid across the board. At various times in his career, Zayas has shown an ability to be a long-range boxer, an inside fighter or a blend of the two. Against Baraou, Zayas had to contend with a close friend and a fighter who had spent over a hundred rounds in the ring with him, one who knew all of his habits. Zayas was up to the challenge, switching looks and adapting throughout the fight. Like Ennis, he too showed a desire to produce excitement that exists outside of sheer logic, matching the energy of a thunderous Puerto Rican crowd, unnecessarily
going toe-to-toe in the final round of a fight he was winning but doing so in the best interests of those who paid for a ticket. Boxing can sometimes lean too heavily on national and regional archetypes when defining fighters. Not all Mexican fighters are in-the-trenches infighters. European fighters aren’t all rangy sharpshooters. There are stylistic patterns that tend to emerge from certain places, however. Philadelphia and Puerto Rican fighters often display a blend of stylishness and ruggedness in equal parts, the flashy slicksters
38 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
RINGMAGAZINE.COM 39
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker