Jaron Ennis had promised an early “dominant” and “quiet” knockout of Custio Clayton ahead of Saturday’s clash with the undefeated 147-pound contenders at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
“Everyone already knows how this war will go. I’m going to do a show. “I will take that knockout at the end of the night and I will make a statement,” Ennis said before the match.
The Ennis-striker (29-0, 27 KOs) fulfilled his words with his 19th consecutive knockout in the second round against Clayton (19-1-1, 12 KOs), in front of an almost-selling crowd of 7,406 .
Ennis’s right hand landed slightly over Clayton’s left ear with 28 seconds left in the round, strangling the Canadian for good. Clayton crumpled on the canvas, unable to regain his legs as he swayed around the ring and finally got on the ropes before referee Ray Carona ended the match at 2:49.
“He had a high guard, so I was trying to get back with the right shot, but he bent down, so I threw a ball,” said Ennis, who has scored 21 nockdowns in his last 11 games and is believed to have won every round of his career.
“I thought he was going to get up because he was a steady, tough guy and no one ever stopped him, so I thought he was going to get up,” Ennis told Clayton.
“But I saw him get up, and he fell here and he went there, so I realized it was all over.”
Clayton’s destruction by Ennis continued the Philadelphia native’s destruction pattern in the ring, accentuated by his ability to defeat opponents faster than the most capable fighters had before.
In April 2021, Ennis scored a sixth-round KO of Sergey Lipinets, who went 16–1–1 (12 KOs) but was eliminated for the first time.
Ennis has ranked himself no. 1 in lightweight ahead of Errol Spence Jr. and his undefeated WBO counterpart and three-division champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs).
What’s next?
“Anyone can get it now, but I’m the IBF’s No. 1 contender,” Ennis said before speaking directly to Spence after Saturday’s match. “I think the big fish [Spence] he’s here himself, so it’s time to go fishing. “
“I’ll either fight Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford, or I’ll fight for a free belt. I feel like I’ll find my chance sooner or later,” Ennis said.
Spence was really in the ring for the Ennis-Clayton match and praised Ennis after the fight during an interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray.
“He is there. He is right on the edge. He is hungry. He has to call everyone out. “He has to call me and everyone out,” Spence said. “You must be that hungry lion. I’m too high for it. I think he can fight, and he will go a long way. I heard him say that he wanted to introduce me, but if he does, you can catch something he does not want. “
Spence is now focused on the fight with Crawford, after last month defeating Yordenis Ugas with the 10th round stoppage to add the Ugas WBA crown to his IBF and WBC versions.
“I think it is [Spence-Crawford] will happen. It’s a fight I definitely love this year. So we hope we can make it happen, “said Spence.” I love him, he wants him and I think we can agree and fight this year. We are in the negotiation phase now. He definitely wants the war. [Manager] Al [Haymon] told me he definitely wants war. This is [Crawford] the boy I want to fight with. …
“I have three belts, he has a belt, and that’s all I need to become the undisputed world champion in lightweight,” Spence said. “It’s something I’ve been persistent about and it’s something I really want to do, so we’re going to do it.”
After winning easily on Saturday, Ennis summed up the Crawford-Spence challenge by saying: “It does not matter to me who I face. I love everyone and everyone. They can line them up, and I will knock them down. It does not matter who he is. “
Edited by Richard Pretorius and Matthew B. Hall
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Ennis Scores 19th Straight KO Against Clayton, Calls Out ‘Big Fish’ Spence – Westside Story Newspaper – Online Source link Ennis Scores 19th Straight KO Against Clayton, Calls Out ‘Big Fish’ Spence – Westside Story Newspaper – Online