Claressa Shields says Jaron Ennis beat “the dog s**t” out of Xander Zayas from the opening bell and called his performance against Zayas an A+ showing, while warning that defensive lapses could prove costly against Sebastian Fundora.
Shields made the comments at the launch press conference for her fight against Kaye Scott, via her YouTube channel.
I know everybody else’s commentary is the third round of the fight, where Zayas supposedly hurt ‘Boots,’ and that’s what they like to keep going around and saying. But ‘Boots’ beat the dog s**t out of him from the first bell. Dropped him. People get hit in fights; that happens. To me, that’s an A+ performance by ‘Boots.’ Had ‘Boots’ quit against Xander, they’d be calling ‘Boots’ a quitter. Because Xander got stopped against ‘Boots,’ they all like, ‘Oh, he got so much heart.’ Be fair. Give ‘Boots’ his due.
She also flagged a technical concern ahead of Ennis’s next challenge.
Right now, at 154, he is the man, and a big challenge for him will be Fundora. Fundora is a big challenge for anybody because of how long he is in his height. But ‘Boots’ has enough in his arsenal to beat Fundora. But he’s got to be very smart. He can’t make the same mistake he made getting hit with that straight jab and that right against Zayas.
Ennis stopped Zayas in the seventh round on June 27 at Barclays Center to unify the WBO and WBA super-welterweight titles.