Chris Oliver previews this weekend's big boxing action, which features a potential cracker between Xander Zayas and Jaron Ennis, live on DAZN.
Boxing betting tips: Saturday June 27
1pt Jaron Ennis to win in rounds 7-12 at 2/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
2pts Ben Whittaker to win in rounds 1-5 at 11/10 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Coral)
Xander Zayas and Jaron Ennis go head-to-head on Saturday night in what could be one of the best fights of 2026.
The Barclays Center in New York is the venue for this intriguing battle between two young, undefeated fighters with the WBA and WBO light middleweight titles on the line.
This superb contest may not have quite transferred over to the mainstream yet, but it deserves to do so and, thankfully, it is live on DAZN for UK viewers.
Despite being the defending champion, it is Zayas who is the 4/1 underdog and Ennis, who has only recently stepped up to 154lbs, is a best price of 2/9.
This is because the latter has looked so good in his rise up the ranks and the former welterweight champion is the more seasoned of the two, boasting an impressive record of 35-0-1 (31 KOs).
Ennis has blown away good fighters such as Eimantas Stanionis (RTD6), David Avanesyan (RTD5) and Custio Clayton (KO2) at his former weight and made a big statement on his debut at 154lbs by blasting out Uisma Lima inside a round.
‘Boots’ is a skilful switch-hitter with sharp reflexes and pin-point accuracy, while his knockout ratio tells you he carries serious power as well.
Zayas (23-0, 13 KOs) is six years younger at 23 and having been spoken about as one of the best prospects in world boxing for some time, he won the WBO title with a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Garcia 11 months ago. He then unified by picking up the WBA strap with a hard-fought points win over Abass Baraou in January and is still improving.
The Puerto Rican doesn’t have the power of Ennis, but he has a high punch output with slick movement, and he puts his punches together very well. He’s a very good all-rounder and will be looking to use his size.
Ennis is used to being the bigger man in the ring but that won’t be the case here. Even though they are the same height, it is Zayas who is the more natural light middleweight and he is expected to be heavier on fight night.
However, Zayas is accustomed to being quicker than his opponents, but Ennis brings up great speed from welterweight and will arguably have an advantage on that front.
As good as a match-up this is, and I expect both men to have their moments, Ennis is the more mature fighter, and I fancy him to become a two-weight world champion with a victory this weekend.
He’s a very slick operator whose seamless switching between stances could really offset Zayas and the favourite is very much the puncher in this fight.
Also, Zayas was caught pretty regularly by Baraou on his latest outing, and he can’t afford to be hit so easily by someone with the power of Ennis, who is explosive and dangerous from either stance,
Ennis won’t have it all his own way, though, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he needed the judges to get the win here, with an Ennis decision victory available at 2/1.
However, I expect his speed, power and reflexes to be too much for the younger man and I believe Ennis can get the stoppage here which is priced up at 11/10.
I think it will be very competitive early doors, though, before Ennis begins to take over and it could be a case of the Philadelphia native breaking his man down gradually, rather than dominating from the get-go.
Ennis to win in the second half of this 12-rounder is 2/1 and that could be where the value is found in what should be a very fan-friendly affair.
Whittaker set for American dream
There is British interest on the undercard as Ben Whittaker makes his American debut against Richard Rivera.
Whittaker 11-0-1 (8 KOs) has looked like a new fighter since switching to top coach Andy Lee and has won all of his last three contest early on. He halted Liam Cameron in two rounds in their rematch, before recording first-round stoppages against Benjamin Gavazi and Braian Suarez in his two fights under the Matchroom banner.
He is 1/9 to register another victory and you can get 10/1 about Rivera, who has only lost twice in 29 bouts and the 35-year-old brings plenty of experience to the table.
The underdog went the 10-round distance with two-weight world champion Badou Jack when dropping a split decision in 2022, but he also lost to a nine-fight novice in Luis Antonio Tejeda two years later.
The American arrives on the back of two wins but they came against poor opposition, and this is a huge step up in class for him.
Whittaker is on a real roll now and finally looks capable of fulfilling his huge potential, having ditched the showboating and added real spite to his game.
The Olympic silver medallist can display that again here. It is just 4/11 for him to win by stoppage again but that can be boosted to 11/10 for him to get the job done in the opening five sessions of this 10-rounder and he can deliver another impressive performance here.
Posted at 14:20 BST on 26/06/26
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