'He's going to pay for that': Xander Zayas, Jaron Ennis kick off their June showdown with fireworks

BROOKLYN, New York — They spoke about head sizes, and head movement, and levels, and long nights, and fat camp. And respect.

On Wednesday, at the very same place they will be fighting a few months from now, unified WBA and WBO 154-pound world champion Xander Zayas and Jaron “Boots” Ennis got into a war of words to kick off their super welterweight mega-fight on June 27 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, live on DAZN.

At age 23, Zayas (23-0, 13 KOs) is the youngest 154-pound world champion in boxing. At 28, Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) wants to take over the boxing world — a promise many have been waiting for in recent years.

This is his chance.

Privately, both fighters are on the laid-back side. Very little irritates them. But at Wednesday’s kickoff news conference, they did a good job of agitating each other. Ennis kept chiming about “fat camp” and questioning Zayas’ confidence in thinking he could beat him.

“I have no idea where [Zayas] thinks some of this up. He really thinks he can beat me,” Ennis said away from the media crowd. “It cracks me up that he really thinks he has a shot at me. He doesn’t. Watch any of my fights — I leave and still look good. My opponents come out bleeding, and that shows who works on their defense and who doesn’t.

“This is going to get to him. He’s going to burn out with all this media stuff and pay-per-view stuff all day. Watch it, I’m telling you — this is going to get to him. I’ve been there. I know how to handle it. Fight week is going to drain him. Xander has a fat camp right now — he’s around 190 pounds. Look at him, he had a gut. He’s too slow. He doesn’t move his big head. Everyone at 154 has to come to me now. I know he has his two belts, and they will soon be mine. I’m really the cash cow of this fight. I’m really the champion. He has my belts.”

Ennis did stress that Zayas is a better fighter than Vergil Ortiz Jr., whom Ennis was supposed to fight next, but that fight was stopped when Ortiz’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, obtained a restraining order to halt the bout from happening without their involvement. Ennis believes Zayas is more versatile, moves more and is a more fluid boxer than Ortiz, whom Ennis said would’ve been easy to hit.

“Don’t get me wrong, Xander will be easy to hit, too, with that big head of his,” Ennis said, laughing. “Hey, I didn’t know his head was that big until I stood next to him.”

That was the most interesting point of Wednesday’s Zayas-Ennis kickoff festivities: Zayas is bigger. Although they are each listed at 5-foot-10, Ennis might be closer to 5-foot-11, with a 74-inch reach, and he fights from an orthodox stance, while Zayas might be closer to 6-foot and also has a 74-inch reach, though he has stopped just one of his past five opponents.

Xander Zayas vs. Jaron “Boots” Ennis for the unified super welterweight title goes down June 27 in Brooklyn. (Zachariah Delgado, Matchroom Boxing)

(Zachariah Delgado/Matchroom Boxing)

But Zayas thinks he has a distinct advantage over Ennis.

“He’s underestimating me, and he’s going to pay for that,” Zayas told Uncrowned exclusively. “That’s the confidence that [Ennis] is supposed to have and the way he is supposed to think. I get it. I like that he thinks that way. Let him carry that attitude in the ring. I meant what I said up there [pointing at the dais where the fighters spoke at Barclays Center]. I’m going to rip his heart out. I told you. I told everyone.

“His biggest weakness is looking past me. He may see me as this little kid, 23, but notice when we stood next to each other — who was bigger? I was. And I’m going to be much bigger than him on fight night. He’s going to find out what I am about on June 27.”

Javiel Centeno, Zayas’ trainer, who goes way back with him to his youth days, stood on the periphery of the media horde surrounding Zayas wearing a grin and nodding his head. Centeno likes this version of Zayas — or E-X, “Evil Xander,” Centeno admitted with a laugh.

“I’m actually surprised by this side of Xander, and he’s always been self-motivated, and ‘Boots’ can talk about the betting 55-45 split thing [to the winner], but Xander is betting ‘Boots’ he can’t take his two belts, and he won’t,” Centeno said. “We always knew Xander was a big boy, and we know he is bigger than ‘Boots,’ and come fight night, he will be much bigger.

“I hate to hear people talk about Xander’s defense, and throughout his entire career, he has hardly lost six rounds.”

The Top Rank hierarchy, which has promoted Zayas throughout his career, believes this is a win-win for their fighter. They say it is equivalent to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez taking on a prime Floyd Mayweather Jr. early in his career and suffering his first loss in 2013, a majority decision victory for “Money Mayweather.” Mayweather was 36 at the time, and Alvarez was just 23, like Zayas. Alvarez has since called that one of the most important nights of his career and said it taught him valuable lessons about being on this big of a stage.

For Zayas, a victory over Ennis catapults him to greater boxing stardom. A loss, and he reaps the rewards of facing a fighter many believe could be the next dominant force in boxing.

“I like the scenario, but the problem is I’m not going to lose,” Zayas said. “He doesn’t think I can be a problem for him. That’s his problem. I may not have faced anyone like him, full respect to him, but he has never faced anyone as large, as fast and as athletic as I am. I know what he thinks — he thinks he’s going to beat my ass. Let him keep thinking it.”

As for Ennis, he still believes he has doubters out there.

“I hear it — I get hit too much,” Ennis said.

“[Zayas] needed extra time to get ready for this fight, when I know I don’t need it. I’m too much for him. I know I don’t have a belt, but I’m the best in this division.”

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