To Beat Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Xander Zayas Must Emulate The Puerto Rican Greats of The Past

When Miguel Cotto’s fist touched the chin of Zab Judah and made his legs jiggle like a serving of Tembleque, the crowd at Madison Square Garden hit like a shot of Pitorro.

It was Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend in New York City 2007, and Cotto was the main course. While the actual parade was the next day, the mood of the annual June festivities would have been dampened had the budding superstar lost. So you could say there was a lot riding on a Cotto win. It was for pride and country.  And that’s how important boxing is to Puerto Ricans.

It’s been that way since Carlos Ortiz stuck and moved, since Wilfred Benitez bobbed and weaved, since Hector Camacho danced and pranced and since Wilfredo Gomez and Felix Trinidad rocked and socked. Cotto lived up to the Puerto Rican standard of excellence and became a star that night against Judah.

Nineteen years later, it’s Xander Zayas’ turn.

Zayas is the next great Puerto Rican hope. In a boxing world that is searching high and low for a savior, Zayas – a sleek, good-looking boxer-puncher who is 23-0 with 13 knockouts – has great potential. But he’ll be about a 6-1 underdog when he takes on another sleek, good-looking boxer-puncher in Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), a former welterweight titlist against whom he will defend his WBO and WBA junior middleweight titles on Saturday, June 27 (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT, DAZN pay-per-view).

Before recently, Zayas wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card as a potential savior. In fact, he was seen more as a prospect than a contender over a career that started in 2019. But he’s grown over the last few months, winning the vacant WBO 154-pound title in 2025 by beating Jorge Garcia Perez via decision, then outpointing Abass Baraou over 12 rounds in January to win the WBA title. Both wins were comprehensive and showed Zayas to be a possible future big-league player.

As it turns out, the future is now.

The 23-year-old, who was the youngest fighter ever signed by legendary promoter Top Rank, immediately called out Ennis, widely seen as one of the most talented and fearsome fighters in boxing. It was a surprise move in a risk-averse era. Whereas most fighters are reluctant to “cross the street” while they wait for big fights to “marinate,” Zayas went straight for the major player.

Does Zayas know something we don’t? Can he elevate himself to the great Boriqua heights of the past with one win?

To beat Boots, he’ll need all of the great attributes of his Hall of Fame countrymen.

Specifically…

The Tenacity of Trinidad: The incomparable “Tito” won titles in three divisions and came onto the scene like a violent tropical storm. He dropped veteran champion Maurice Blocker on his face to win the IBF welterweight title in 1993 with a tangible fearlessness, despite his tender age and experience. He defended his crown nine times, including a highlight reel knockout of Yory Boy Campas in 1994, where he was dropped by a counter left but paid it no heed whatsoever in hunting down his undefeated opponent and knocking him silly. Same with his one-sided blanking of former multi-weight titlist Pernell Whitaker in 1999.

But he became the darling of the Puerto Rican community – and of boxing – later in 1999, when he defeated undefeated archrival, Oscar De La Hoya. Whatever De La Hoya did, Trinidad was right up in his grill, pressuring, stalking, hunting down. He wasn’t worried about De La Hoya’s considerable offensive artillery at all, and his determination won him a 12-round decision. A Bonafide superstar who came to knock your block off, Trinidad showed zero reluctance in moving up in weight to hammer David Reid and Fernando Vargas in 2000 – coming back from knockdowns in both fights to do it – and his 2001 and 2004 knockouts of William Joppy and Ricard Mayorga were examples of his raw courage, walking both down without so much as an eye blink amid some of the loudest, most raucous crowds in Madison Square Garden history.

The Confidence of Camacho: “Macho” Camacho, the flashy, blazing-fast former lightweight and junior welterweight champion who basically invented the loincloth boxing trunks that are omnipresent today, was the 1980s version of Muhammad Ali when it came to grabbing attention for himself. His confidence and awesome ability got him valuable opportunities on network television, where he took full advantage in destroying Louis Loy, Johnny Sato and John Montes. He parlayed that into a title shot, destroying Mexican tough guy Bazooka Limon for the WBC lightweight title in 1983, becoming the biggest star in boxing in the process.

After a hiatus and a much-publicized drug battle, he was back on network TV where he punished contender Louie Burke before dazzling multi-world champion Jose Luis Ramirez for the WBC lightweight title in 1985. After a controversial win over Puerto Rican archrival Edwin Rosario in 1986, Camacho became a stylist, beating the biggest names in boxing: Ray Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Greg Haugen and even Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard later in their careers.  He was often criticized for his style change, but he never lost his swagger, mocking the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya before their 1992 and ’97 fights and displaying a belief in himself that never wavered.

The Defense of Benitez: Benitez holds one of the most distinctive and important records in boxing history: “El Radar” became the youngest world champion ever in 1976 when he beat Antonio Cervantes to win the WBA junior welterweight title. Cervantes was himself one of the more accomplished fighters of his era. But he had no answer for the teenage wunderkind, continuously missing big shots while being mercilessly countered. Benitez eventually became a three-division world champion, doing the same to Carlos Palomino for the WBC welterweight title in 1978 and Maurice Hope for the WBC junior middleweight crown in 1981.

He also owns a dominant 1982 win over Roberto Duran where, again, he made Duran miss and pay for his whiffs. Throughout his career, Benitez displayed a defensive ability that belied his age and made onlookers and opponents alike stare in disbelief – leaning back, ducking, sliding, parrying and contorting his body into sections in avoiding big shots. He lost to Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, both of whom were famously frustrated by Radar’s defense in sequences where they missed dozens of punches while Benitez lie against the ropes. Along with Willie Pep and Pernell Whitaker, Benitez was one of the greatest defensive fighters boxing has ever seen.

The Power of Gomez: “Bazooka” Gomez, a three-division world champion known as one of the hardest hitters in boxing history, won the WBC junior featherweight title in 1978 and defended it 17 times – with all 17 by knockout. Much of those wins were on national television, where viewers saw him dismantle an array of top contenders, including former Mexican great Carlos Zarate, who was crushed in five rounds. It led him to an all-time superfight against Salvador Sanchez, a showdown where he went into the fight 32-0-1 with 32 knockouts and widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing (over fighters like Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler, Michael Spinks, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard).

Later in his reign, he played rock’em, sock’em with bantamweight great Lupe Pintor, finally claiming a 14^th-round knockout in one of the greatest fights boxing has ever seen. He beat fellow Boriqua Juan LaPorte in 1984 for the WBC featherweight title and American Rocky Lockridge in 1986 for the WBA junior lightweight title. All the while, Gomez carried dynamite in his mitts and continues to be regarded as one of the hardest punchers boxing has ever seen.

The Style of Ortiz: Finally, he’d need the classic boxing ability of former two-division world champion Ortiz, who had the technical acumen to outbox the best in the business with his exceptional intelligence and high boxing IQ. Ortiz, widely considered one of the best fighters – if not the best fighter – to ever come out of Puerto Rico, captured the junior welterweight title in 1959 with a win over Kenny Lane, defending it twice; and capturing the lightweight title twice, first in 1962, beating Joe Brown via decision; then a second reign in 1965, beating Ismael Laguna via decision. Overall, Ortiz made two defenses of the 140-pound title and nine defenses of the 135-pound title, including a win over Sugar Ramos. Ortiz holds the record for the most wins in a unified lightweight title bout in boxing history with 10.

And, of course, there is Cotto, the latest entry into the Puerto Rican Greatness category. After his 2007 win over Judah, Cotto went on to become a four-division champion, defeating the likes of Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Sergio Martinez and becoming one of the more popular fighters of his era in superfights with Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.

Early in his career, Cotto had a lot of doubters as he struggled with tough opponents. But he picked rugged competition, learned and became a better fighter because of it.

Zayas feels he can do the same. If he were to beat Boots, it would be one of the bigger upsets in modern-day boxing.

Is he up for the challenge? Yes, but living up to the likes of Cotto, Trinidad, Benitez, Camacho, Gomez and Ortiz is a daunting task.

We’ll see.

Matthew Aguilar

Matthew Aguilar is a columnist and sportswriter. Over his nearly 30-year writing career, he has contributed to Associated Press, USA Today, The RING, Ringside Seat, Boxing Weekly, many newspapers within the Gannett newspaper company and his hometown El Paso Times, where he covered everything from college football and basketball to rodeo. Now based in Chicago, he is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Transnational Boxing Rankings and is a voter for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the El Paso Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.

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