Fresh off the official announcement of the upcoming 154 lb title fight between Xander Zayas and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Boots talks a bit about what he’s thinking with this big opportunity on the table and why he’s confident this will be the start of a big run in solidifying his legacy in the sport. Here’s some excerpts of what he had to say below.
Boots on how he’s feeling about facing Zayas
“I’m feeling great, man. I’m about to be a two weight division unified champion. I’m stamping my legacy. I’m about to show the world why I’m the best in the world, I’m going to continue showing the world I’m the best in the world. This boxing game’s mine, straight like that.
“Once me and the team sat down and we figured out like everything falling through [with Vergil Ortiz], it’s not really going to happen, I told my team, Matchroom, DAZN, ‘go get me Xander.’ Go get me Xander or go get me somebody with the belts and that’s what they did. I’m glad they did that and I’m excited. I’m ready.”
On what Zayas brings to the table that could make it a hard fight
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t take nothing from him, he’s a good fighter. I appreciate him for giving me the opportunity but I don’t really see much. He a great fighter, he got good fundamentals, good jab, he’s smart at times. Like I said, I’m taking over. This my division, it don’t matter what he do, it don’t matter what he bring to the table, I’m about to show why I’m the best in the world and we’re going to start in June.”
On going into this fight off his last fight against Lima
“Lima wasn’t even supposed to be the option, you know that. We ran through like 15-20 opponents, everybody was saying no and things like that. But 154, that [fight] was me getting my foot in the door. I’m in the door now, it’s time to go through the crib, ransack the crib and get out of there, take some jewelry, on to the next crib.”
