Roy Jones Jr. Says Xander Zayas Should Have Gone ‘Balls To The Wall’ Against Jaron Ennis

The Hall of Famer believes Zayas should have emptied the tank after hurting Ennis, while Andre Ward defended the challenger’s approach

Roy Jones Jr. believes Xander Zayas let the biggest opportunity of his career slip away when he failed to press his advantage against Jaron “Boots” Ennis in the third round. Andre Ward disagreed, arguing Ennis remained dangerous enough that Zayas could not abandon his defense.

“You should have been balls to the wall. You should have put everything out that third round and try to get him out of there,” Jones said to Andre Ward’s channel. “You was going to the body well, but you wasn’t going hard enough.”

Jones believes Zayas had already seen enough to know he wasn’t going to outbox Ennis over the championship rounds.

“This man has shown you already that he’s on a different level than you. He’s faster. He’s sharper. He can hit you anytime he gets ready. If you hurt him, you better try to get him out of there because if you don’t, round seven is gonna happen,” said Roy Jr.

After surviving the third-round scare, Ennis gradually regained control behind a sustained body attack. He dropped Zayas in the fifth round with a perfectly timed right hook from the southpaw stance before finishing the Puerto Rican contender in the seventh to retain his WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles.

Ward countered that Zayas also had to respect Ennis’ offense even while he was hurt, arguing the challenger couldn’t simply abandon his defense.

The former two-division world champion argued there was a fine line between pressing for a stoppage and walking into a fight-ending counter from an opponent who was still dangerous despite being hurt.

Jones, however, maintained that Zayas had little to lose by taking the gamble.

“That was his only chance to win the fight. If you don’t get him, round seven is just gonna happen. But if you get him, we may have a different outcome,” said Jones Jr.

Ward acknowledged Jones’ point but noted Ennis also deserves credit for surviving the crisis.

Ennis survived the round, recovered over the next two frames and eventually stopped Zayas in the seventh.

Jones believes the third round was the fight’s defining moment. Once Zayas failed to capitalize, he says the outcome was only headed in one direction.

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