“We’re only interested in those fights,” said Hearn to Fight Hub TV about him and Boots only wanting the big fights.
That is where Xander Zayas enters the conversation. Not as a natural next opponent, but as one made possible by circumstance. Hearn tied that fight directly to Top Rank’s move onto DAZN, noting that communication between the sides is now easier and more direct. The fight becomes viable because the platforms are aligned, not because it has been built over time.
“There is a better line of communication,” said Hearn on the communication between Matchroom and the Top Rank-promoted Xander.
That distinction is important. WBA interim junior middleweight champion Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) is not moving through a clear contender path. He is waiting on big names while the calendar moves, and the pool of those names is small. When one of them becomes easier to negotiate due to shared broadcast interests, it rises quickly.
Hearn did not present WBA and WBO 154-lb champion Xander as a fallback or a secondary option. He described it as a fight that would match the level of Ennis against Vergil Ortiz Jr., which places it firmly in the same tier of target fights. At the same time, he stopped short of saying it was close, which leaves it in that familiar space where interest exists but nothing is secured.
The result is a narrow lane. Boots, 28, is chasing the biggest fights available, but those fights depend on cooperation across promoters and platforms. When that cooperation lines up, like it now does with DAZN and Top Rank, a fight that once felt unlikely can move to the front.
That looks like the clearest direction available, whether it was the original plan or not.
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