Jarod Ennis was dominant as he claimed a seventh-round knockout victory over Xander Zayas to unify the WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles on the Brooklyn Middle in New York.
The loss for Zayas marks the primary of his profession, shifting him to 23-1, whereas ‘Boots’ Ennis went as much as 36-0 which incorporates a powerful 32 knockouts.
It implies that Ennis now holds each titles at 154lbs.
Ennis knew a win on this struggle would make an announcement and with that, he set out with intent, dropping Zayas within the opening spherical with a left hand and twice extra within the struggle.
Zayas had rallied within the third and fourth spherical, his proper hand inflicting points for Ennis that backed him into the ropes, however then from the fifth ‘Boots’ took management when he dropped his opponent for a second time.
With 1:49 on the clock within the seventh spherical, Zayas hit the deck as soon as once more after taking a barrage of left hooks. Though, he bought up earlier than the depend as soon as once more, the referee this time known as it.
Whittaker stops Riviera in second spherical
Ben Whittaker pulled off a dominant second-round knockout victory over Richard Riviera on the undercard in his US debut.
The struggle was simply 27 seconds into the second spherical when Whittaker despatched Riviera to the deck for a second time and secured the victory that strikes him to 12-0-1 with 9 knockouts.
Whittaker was in management all through towards his 35-year-old opponent, his jabs proving an excessive amount of for Riviera to deal with.
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Zak Chelli insists he doesn’t view Ben Whittaker as his ‘competitors’ and claims he dropped the Olympic silver medallist throughout a previous sparring session
After sending him to the canvas late within the opening spherical with a robust proper hand, it was not lengthy after the bell for the second that one other mixture proved an excessive amount of for Riviera.
The win is one other key victory for Whittaker as he continues his rise within the mild heavyweight division, with a world title struggle at 175lbs the purpose.
Certainly, promoter Eddie Hearn believes Whittaker is ‘three fights’ away from difficult the light-heavyweight world title holders, and a giant home conflict towards fellow Englishman Buatsi or Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson may occur later this yr.
“I think me and Buatsi are kind of close,” Whittaker advised Sky Sports activities. “I think we’re two and three in the WBC [rankings], so something like that could happen.
“And Willy, I’ve overwhelmed him earlier than within the amateurs, so it might be good to get one other win over him within the execs.
“But for me, it’s whoever’s next, whoever makes sense, whoever’s going to get me to where I need to get to.”
Watch Edwin De Los Santos vs Jose Valenzuela stay on Sky Sports activities from 9.30pm on Sunday.
