WHITTAKER GOES GLOBAL AS BOOTS AND ZAYAS LOOK SET TO LIGHT UP NEW YORK
One of the best fights in boxing takes place this Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as Puerto Rican superstar Xander Zayas puts his undefeated record and his WBA & WBO World Super-Welterweight Titles on the line against the hard-hitting former world welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a fight that can only really be described as special.
On the undercard, Olympic silver medallist and Matchroom protégé Ben Whittaker makes his US debut against the tough Richard Rivera, whilst middleweight contenders Jahi Tucker and Euri Cedeno look to take one step closer to a world title shot, and Emiliano Vargas takes on the in-form Bryce Mills.
First off, though, we'll take a look at the main event.
Xander Zayas vs Jaron Ennis – WBO & WBA World Super-Welterweight Titles
After months of back and forth trying to negotiate a fight with fellow super-welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz, Jaron Ennis has gone one better in just his second fight back up in weight and finds himself in with unified champion Xander Zayas in a fight that promises to be a boxing spectacle.
Both undefeated and undoubtedly two of the best boxers on the planet right now, this match-up has all the ingredients to be a classic.
At 23 years old, Puerto Rico’s Xander Zayas has quite literally taken the super-welterweight division by storm.
Twenty-three fights, 23 wins and 13 stoppages – this is a young man who quite literally has it all.
After brushing past fairly modest opposition in his first 22 fights, he stepped up last time out in what, on paper, looked to be a solid test against Abass Baraou, and that's exactly what it proved to be.
Having barely lost a round in his previous fights, Zayas was asked questions by Baraou that he'd never been asked before and, to his credit, he answered them. However, for the first time in his career, a judge thought his opponent had done enough to take Zayas's undefeated record.
The final scorecards read 116-112 twice and 112-116, with the Puerto Rican successfully making the first defence of his WBO World Title whilst also picking up the WBA World Title in the process.
It's been a somewhat different journey to the top for Zayas's opponent on Saturday night, Jaron Ennis.
A talented amateur with wins over the likes of Gary Antuanne Russell and Richardson Hitchins in the unpaid ranks, it was his power that got him through the apprenticeship of his professional career.
In his first 29 fights, he'd won 27 of them by stoppage, a quite remarkable feat for any fighter in this day and age.
It wasn't until he came across the durable Karen Chukhadzhian in a world title fight that he was taken to points for the first time in nearly six years. In fact, Chukhadzhian is the only man to have taken him the distance since James Winchester did in a six-rounder back in March 2017.
Since his win over Chukhadzhian for the IBF Interim World Welterweight Title, he's kicked on and looked bloody good whilst doing so.
Stoppage wins over the likes of Roiman Villa and David Avanesyan saw him elevated to full IBF champion in the welterweight division before, as previously mentioned, Chukhadzhian took him the distance once again.
Another successful title defence and a stoppage win over Eimantas Stanionis followed before Boots returned to 154lbs, where he stopped Uisma Lima in the first round to book himself a shot at Zayas.
To the fight, and on paper it's boxer versus puncher, but in reality these are two men who can do both.
If Ennis does carry his power up from 147lbs, which it looks like he has, he is undoubtedly the bigger puncher, but Zayas can whack a fair bit himself.
Boots plants his feet more and relies on his elite lateral movement as his defence, whereas Zayas much prefers to use his feet and break down his opponents.
The fight will more than likely come down to who can get into their rhythm earliest. Boots has by far fought the better opposition, but Zayas is established at 11 stone and that experience at the weight will be crucial.
If Boots can put a dent in Zayas early, then it's his fight to lose. However, if Zayas can frustrate Boots, mix up his angles well and pick him off, he may well make Boots answer questions that he's never needed to before, and whether he has the answers for that only time will tell.
They are physically well matched, with both men standing at 5'10" and possessing a 74-inch reach, so there is no advantage for either man there. This fight will come down to IQ.
Whichever way the fight goes, these are two exceptionally talented fighters, so even for the loser, they'll likely bounce back and prove that they belong at world level.
For the winner, it's simple. They'll be on the journey to becoming undisputed and will be looking to make unification fights against Sebastian Fundora and Josh Kelly.
Undercard
Now to the highly anticipated debut of Olympic silver medallist Ben Whittaker, who takes on experienced American Richard Rivera.
A man who is regarded by many as the future of British boxing, Whittaker has it all both inside and outside of the ring.
He's 11-0-1, with the only speed bump of his career coming against Liam Cameron, an opponent whom he stopped inside two rounds in his next fight after their controversial draw.
The thing with Whittaker is that since teaming up with Andy Lee, he seems to have gone to another level. As an amateur, he was very fluid and liked to box on the outside and basically take the piss out of his opponents, but now he's getting down to work a lot earlier and sitting down on his shots.
That's shown by the fact that his last three wins have come inside two rounds, and he'll be looking to add to that streak on Saturday night.
In Rivera, though, he comes up against a fighter who cannot be written off.
At 21-0, he stepped up 20lbs to take on Badou Jack and lost out by split decision in a fight which many people believed he had done enough to win.
His second defeat came against Luis Tejeda in another close fight in which he lost by majority decision, so this is a fighter who could quite easily be undefeated in 29 fights.
If this were an 11-0 Ben Whittaker coming up against a 29-0 Richard Rivera, there would more than likely be many more people thinking that this fight may have come too soon for Whittaker.
We may well have seen this script before, though. Remember a couple of other previous future poster boys of British boxing going Stateside and coming unstuck? Think back to June 1st 2019. First Josh Kelly could only manage a draw against Ray Robinson and then infamously, Anthony Joshua lost his 0 when suffering a devastating stoppage defeat to Andy Ruiz. It could well be déjà vu if Whittaker isn't careful.
The likelihood is that Whittaker is going to get hard rounds here. As previously mentioned, he's obliterated his past three opponents inside two rounds, but it's highly unlikely he'll have the power to do that to Rivera.
The American hasn't fought in over 18 months, which will obviously play into Whittaker's hands, but that could also make him even more dangerous.
He's got 20 stoppages to his name, so he's a man who does carry power and, if Whittaker is complacent or lazy, he may well find himself in deep trouble.
The instructions for the Brit will be simple. Listen to the wisdom of trainer Andy Lee. It's the sort of fight where Lee will be able to pretty much control Whittaker throughout.
If Whittaker does get the win and looks good doing so, then he deserves a huge amount of credit. But if he can manage to get Rivera out of there, that may well be the biggest indicator yet that he is well and truly ready for the likes of Willy Hutchinson, Lewis Edmondson or even fringe world-level fighters like Imam Khataev, who, funnily enough, Whittaker beat in the amateurs.
It's a huge fight for Whittaker and one that is somewhat going under the radar, so make sure you tune in because this will be the fight where we find out just what level he is at.
On the rest of the undercard, there's some top US talent on show. The highly rated Jahi Tucker takes on the undefeated Euri Cedeno in a cracking fight, whilst Emiliano Vargas looks to move to 18-0 against fellow American Bryce Mills.
Also on the card, the undefeated Quincey Williams and Dennis Thompson look to add to their unbeaten records in eight-rounders, whilst Puerto Rico's Juanma Lopez De Jesus faces the toughest test of his career against Spain's Alberto Motos.
An incredible main event with a solid undercard – make sure you tune in live on DAZN.