Tiger Johnson believes Xander Zayas is not getting enough respect ahead of Saturday’s unified junior middleweight title fight with Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
Zayas will defend his WBA and WBO 154lbs titles against Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Many see Ennis as the favorite, but Johnson, who spent three weeks training with Zayas in South Florida, expects a much closer fight than people think.
“I don’t think people are giving Xander enough credit as a fighter,” Johnson said. “Maybe because he’s young, but Xander is a very skilled fighter.”
Zayas became boxing’s youngest current unified champion by beating Abass Baraou in January, while Ennis is a former unified welterweight champion who has fought only once at junior middleweight, stopping Uisma Lima in the first round. The Ring ranks Zayas at No. 3 and Ennis at No. 5 in the division.
Johnson says his work with Zayas showed him how strong, skilled and tough the Puerto Rican champion is. “He’s bigger than me, so I had to be on my A game,” Johnson said. “It was real high-level training.”
Johnson returns on July 4 in Cleveland against unbeaten Christopher Guerrero. He believes the time with Zayas helped sharpen his own camp and also convinced him that Zayas can give Ennis one of the best fights of the year.
Image Credit: Top Rank