Jaron 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, transferring him to 23-1, whereas Ennis went as much as 36-0, which incorporates a powerful 32 knockouts.
It means Ennis now holds each titles at 154lbs.
Ennis knew a win on this battle would make a press release and with that, he set out with intent, dropping Zayas within the opening spherical with a left hand and twice extra within the battle.
Zayas had rallied within the third and fourth spherical, his proper hand inflicting points for Ennis that backed him into the ropes, however 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 received up earlier than the rely as soon as once more, the referee this time known as it.
Whittaker stops Rivera in second spherical
Ben Whittaker pulled off a dominant second-round knockout victory over Richard Rivera on the undercard in his US debut.
The battle was simply 27 seconds into the second spherical when Whittaker despatched Rivera 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 in opposition to his 35-year-old opponent, his jabs proving an excessive amount of for Rivera to deal with.
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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 Rivera.
The win is one other key victory for Whittaker as he continues his rise within the mild heavyweight division, with a world title battle at 175lbs the intention.
Certainly, promoter Eddie Hearn believes Whittaker is “three fights” away from difficult the light-heavyweight world title holders, and an enormous home conflict in opposition to fellow Englishman Joshua Buatsi or Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson may occur later this 12 months.
“I think me and Buatsi are kind of close,” Whittaker instructed 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 would be good to get one other win over him within the professionals.
“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 dwell on Sky Sports activities from 9.30pm on Sunday.
