Jaron Ennis Gives Himself C+ Despite Dominant Title-Winning Performance Over Xander Zayas

“I’ll probably give myself probably like a C… C-plus,” Ennis said on the post-fight press conference. “I do know I’m way higher than that. I used to be moving into the corner a bit of bit. They was telling me to make use of speed, and I used to be throwing one shot. It’s the shots you don’t see. I must have been using a bit of bit more speed.”

Ennis admitted he drifted away from the sport plan at times by searching for power as a substitute of counting on his hand speed, something he plans to correct before his next outing.

The 29-year-old knocked Zayas down within the opening round with a pointy counter, scored one other knockdown within the fifth, and finished the job within the seventh after a 3rd trip to the canvas prompted Zayas’ corner to stop the fight. Although Zayas briefly buzzed him within the third round, Ennis insisted afterward that he was never in deep trouble.

“I used to be chilling,” Ennis said. “I just got a bit of lazy on the within. Got caught with a very good shot, but I used to be cool.”

The victory made Ennis a unified champion in a second weight class after previously holding unified titles at welterweight. Even after adding two more world championships to his résumé, he made it clear that his work at 154 kilos is barely starting.

Ennis said his goal stays becoming the undisputed champion, though he also welcomed a showdown with Virgil Ortiz Jr. if the title fights can’t be made.