Boots Ennis defends Xander Zayas from quit accusations

Jaron Ennis says Xander Zayas did not quit when their welterweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super welterweight title fight was stopped in the eighth round at Barclays Center on June 27.

Ennis, who unified the WBO and WBA straps by dropping Zayas and forcing a corner stoppage, told Bad Left Hook that his opponent was probably seeking instructions rather than surrendering. "I don't think he quit," Ennis said in a recent interview. "Typically, as you see, when I dropped him I looked at my corner to like get instructions. That's what people do. They look to the corner to get instructions."

Ennis admits to lazy moments but denies being hurt in third

The Philadelphia fighter also addressed the much-discussed third round, when Zayas landed a clean right hand that briefly had fans and commentators wondering whether Boots was in trouble. "That third round, I watched it like three times and just me being on some lazy stuff and you can't do that," he said, per the same outlet. Ennis insisted he was never hurt, pointing out that a genuinely wobbled fighter would have retreated rather than stayed in the pocket trading shots. He chalked the lapse up to complacency. "When it get too easy you got to pick it up, and I'm glad the fight went how it went."

Ennis also took a shot at Vergil Ortiz, who called him out after the Zayas win but has yet to commit to terms. "We went all the way down there" to Ortiz's last fight, Ennis said, describing resistance from Ortiz's team about allowing him near the ring. "That goes to show they don't want the fight for real, for real." He said Ortiz mentioned Errol Spence as a dream opponent in a post-fight interview, a comment Ennis found inconsistent with the callout.

Ennis has not announced his next opponent. Zayas, now 21-1, is expected to return later this year.

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• Bad Left Hook — ‘I don’t think he quit’: Boots Ennis doesn’t question the fighting spirit of Xander Zayas