NEW YORK — Jaron Ennis made Xander Zayas pay dearly for his ambition Saturday night.
The faster, sharper, stronger challenger mostly picked apart Zayas and dropped him once apiece in the first, fifth and seventh rounds before referee Harvey Dock stopped a main event DAZN streamed worldwide from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Dock halted the action at 1:49 of the seventh after a blistering assault by Ennis sent Zayas to one knee.
Zayas was unbelievably brave and buzzed Ennis in the third round, but Ennis demonstrated why he was a 6-1 favorite by the time their bout began.
Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs, 1 NC) became champion in a second weight class and took the WBA and WBO 154-pound titles from Zayas (23-1, 13 KOs). The Philadelphia native fought for just the second time at the junior middleweight limit after relinquishing his Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight titles a year ago.
The 29-year-old Ennis handily defeated an unbeaten champion for the second time in his past three fights. He dominated Eimantas Stanionis for six one-sided rounds in their welterweight title unification fight 14 months ago at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Ennis was unable to get down to 147 pounds in a healthy way after he defeated Stanionis, but he’ll pursue junior middleweight title unification fights against WBC champ Sebastian Fundora and IBF champ Josh Kelly now that he has dethroned Zayas.
Zayas could’ve taken an easier assignment after he added the WBA belt to his WBO championship January 31, when he edged Germany’s Abass Baraou by split decision in San Juan.
He insisted on defending his titles versus Ennis, which drew widespread praise because the 23-year-old champion embraced the type of risk others would’ve avoided. It turned out to be a matchmaking mistake, despite Zayas’ admirable ambition.
Prior to ending the bout in the seventh round, Ennis didn’t do much offensively in the sixth after expending a lot of energy trying to knock out Zayas in the fifth. The defending champion tried to stay away from him for three minutes and regained his senses.
A New York State Athletic Commission physician examined Zayas before he allowed him to start the sixth round. The former champion took a brutal beating in the fifth, but bravely fought on.
A counter right uppercut by Ennis knocked Zayas the canvas for the second time with just over 1:20 on the clock in the fifth round. Zayas got up again and took an enormous amount of punishment prior to the bell sounding.
After he took some punishment in the third round, Ennis unloaded an array of power punches to Zayas’ head during the fourth round. Zayas also landed rights to Ennis’ head later in the fourth, when both fighters dug to the body.
Zayas landed a left to Ennis body early in round three, which was an indication of what was to come later in the frame. Zayas caught Ennis with a right hand that snapped back his head and buzzed him.
Ennis regained his senses enough to fight back, but Zayas clearly was back in a fight that appeared as if it would end early. Zayas didn’t take as many punches in the second round as he did during the first three minutes of action, but he wasn’t effectively offensively, either.
Ennis’ straight left followed by a quick right hook caused a delayed reaction and knocked Zayas to the canvas for the first time in 24 professional fights with a little over a minute to go in the first round. Zayas answered Dock’s count quickly and remained on his feet for the remainder of the round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.
