{"id":352219,"date":"2026-06-17T09:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=352219"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:23:21","slug":"terence-crawford-praises-xander-zayas-but-backs-jaron-ennis-to-prevail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/terence-crawford-praises-xander-zayas-but-backs-jaron-ennis-to-prevail\/","title":{"rendered":"Terence Crawford Praises Xander Zayas But Backs Jaron Ennis To Prevail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<p>Terence Crawford has backed Jaron Ennis to defeat Xander Zayas when the pair clash for the unified super welterweight titles later this month.<\/p>\n<p>Ennis moved up from welterweight last 12 months after capturing the IBF and WBA titles at 147 kilos, belts that had previously been held by Crawford. In his first appearance at 154 kilos, \u2018Boots\u2019 made a right away statement by stopping Uisma Lima contained in the opening round.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-32\" style=\"margin: 8px 0; clear: both;\">\n<br \/><center><\/p>\n<div style=\"display:flex; justify-content:center; align-items:center; gap:12px; flex-wrap:wrap;\">\n<picture style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/google.png.webp\"><\/source><\/p>\n<\/picture>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;\n            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/follow-google-news.png\"><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/div>\n<p>Now, Ennis faces the hardest test of his temporary run within the division when he takes on undefeated WBA and WBO champion Xander Zayas.<\/p>\n<p>Offering his thoughts on the matchup, Crawford praised Zayas for taking up such a challenge at this stage of his profession but ultimately sided with Ennis to get the job done.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMan, that could be a tough fight, especially for Xander at this point in his profession, but it surely shows his heart and his confidence that he has in himself. He&#8217;s able to go make history for his country, and he&#8217;s going to do real well in that fight,\u201d said Crawford to Jai McAllister\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OURBgVtTw4A\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think that, at once, it&#8217;s a bit of bit too early for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A victory for Ennis would move him a step closer to becoming the undisputed champion at 154 kilos. Sebastian Fundora currently holds the WBC title, while Josh Kelly is anticipated to make the primary defense of his IBF belt against Caoimhin Agyarko on July 25.<\/p>\n<p>Zayas, meanwhile, will likely be seeking to prove that Crawford\u2019s assessment is flawed by handing Ennis the primary defeat of his skilled profession and establishing himself because the leading force within the division.<\/p>\n<p>Ennis and Zayas are scheduled to fulfill on June 27 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Recent York, with the unified super welterweight titles on the road.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sabox-authors\">\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-wrap\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\" itemscope=\"\" itemprop=\"author\">\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-tab saboxplugin-tab-about\">\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-desc\">\n<div itemprop=\"description\">\n<p>Robert Segal is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24 with greater than a decade of experience covering fight news, previews, and evaluation. Known for his straightforward reporting and ringside perspective, he delivers authoritative coverage of champions, contenders, and emerging talent worldwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<\/center><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews24.substack.com\/subscribe\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Related Boxing News:<\/h2>\n<footer class=\"entry-meta\" aria-label=\"Entry meta\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"cat-links\"><span class=\"gp-icon icon-categories\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 512 512\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"><path d=\"M0 112c0-26.51 21.49-48 48-48h110.014a48 48 0 0143.592 27.907l12.349 26.791A16 16 0 00228.486 128H464c26.51 0 48 21.49 48 48v224c0 26.51-21.49 48-48 48H48c-26.51 0-48-21.49-48-48V112z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Categories <\/span>Jaron Ennis, Xander Zayas<\/span> \t\t<\/p>\n<nav id=\"nav-below\" class=\"post-navigation\" aria-label=\"Posts\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<\/footer>\n<nav aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\" class=\"rank-math-breadcrumb\">\n<p>Boxing News 24<span class=\"separator\"> \u00bb <\/span>Jaron Ennis<span class=\"separator\"> \u00bb <\/span><span class=\"last\">Terence Crawford praises Xander Zayas but backs Jaron Ennis to prevail<\/span><\/p>\n<\/nav>\n<p><small>Last Updated on 2026\/06\/16 at 11:58 PM <\/small>\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terence Crawford has backed Jaron Ennis to defeat Xander Zayas when the pair clash for the unified super welterweight titles later this month. Ennis moved up from welterweight last 12 months after capturing the IBF and WBA titles at 147 kilos, belts that had previously been held by Crawford. In his first appearance at 154 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[761,10113,10778,10776,5626,41235,10112,12709,24934],"class_list":["post-352219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-backs","tag-crawford","tag-ennis","tag-jaron","tag-praises","tag-prevail","tag-terence","tag-xander","tag-zayas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352222,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352219\/revisions\/352222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}