LONDON – Eddie Hearn has revealed that Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ next fight is imminent and that talks are underway for him to confront Xander Zayas.
Since he moved up to 154lbs after unifying the WBA and IBF welterweight titles against Eimantas Stanionis in April 2025, Ennis breezed through Uisma Lima in his first fight in his new weight division and a date against Vergil Ortiz Jnr became in demand.
Talks between Ennis’s and Ortiz’s respective promoters Matchroom and Golden Boy Promotions began. Ortiz’s manager Rick Mirigian was unhappy with the purse offered to Ortiz by Golden Boy, however, contributing to a rift between Ortiz and Golden Boy. Ortiz then claimed he was a promotional free agent, filed a lawsuit against his promoter, and entered talks with Ennis without Golden Boy’s involvement.
When Golden Boy then filed a temporary restraining order on Ortiz, prohibiting him from entering negotiations with third parties, those negotiations came to an end. Eddie Hearn, in turn, has started to explore alternatives. The WBA and WBO champion Zayas has reportedly been in talks to defend his titles against Ennis. Following Top Rank announcing a broadcast deal with DAZN, whom Matchroom also have an agreement with, a bout between them should be more straightforward to make.
“There are talks,” Hearn confirmed to BoxingScene. “I mean, we were right on the line with Vergil Ortiz. We were planning media tours, that’s how close we were. And now with the great news about DAZN and Top Rank working together and obviously our relationship with Top Rank, there has been some conversations with Xander Zayas. There’s no media tour planned on that one, but I just think as good a fight as the Ortiz fight was, Xander Zayas is right up there as well.
“Also, we have Josh Kelly, [the IBF] champion in the weight class as well. So it’s been a bit of a frustrating time for ‘Boots’, if I’m honest. He was due to fight in April, May. It’s going to be June now, but I guarantee he will be in a big fight next. We’ll decide that – I think by the end of next week, we will be pulling the trigger on a ‘Boots’ fight. So it’s imminent.”
Talks between Zayas and Ennis potentially leave Josh Kelly without an opponent for the first defence of his title. After his win over Bakhram Murtazaliev in January, he spoke about a unification contest with Zayas.
“Yeah, Kelly still wants it, and by the way, Xander Zayas likes that as well,” said Hearn. “But there is a huge amount of money in the Boots-Xander Zayas fight. By the way, Josh Kelly has the option to fight Boots as well and that might happen. But also, I have no problem with Josh Kelly having a voluntary defense. Don’t forget, he just beat Murtazaliev. What do you want to do? Murtazaliev, then Boots. I mean, that’s a hell of a run, so we'll see. But he’s open to the big fights as well. There’s ongoing conversations and it’s an absolute priority.”
