“I think this fight comes down to how comfortable Zayas gets offensively,” Edwards told Boxingscene. “If he sits down and tries to hurt Boots, I believe he will be stopped. If he keeps moving, I believe he can go the distance.”
Edwards probably looks at Zayas’ recent performances against Abass Baraou and Jorge Garcia Perez and sees a fighter who has already begun to rely on a safety-first style when the going gets a little tough. When he was under fire in those fights, he held or moved.
Those last two fights showed that Zayas is willing to play it safe to get the win. Edwards bets that against Boots, playing it safe only delays the inevitable.
Zayas will be expected to rely on movement early, using his feet and lateral movement to manage distance against a fighter Edwards describes as capable of landing shots that opponents haven’t experienced before. The challenge, as Edwards sees it, is what happens as laps pass and the pace becomes harder to maintain.
“He can either decide to keep moving and go the distance and get a moral victory like Hector Camacho,” Edwards said of Xander. “Or go out on his shield like Felix Trinidad.”
It sounds like Edwards thinks that style is exactly what leads to the “Camacho” result, a loss where Zayas survives but fails to actually win the fight.
When Edwards mentions that Zayas moves and potshots to go the distance for a “moral victory,” he’s essentially saying that while the style may prevent Zayas from being knocked out, it won’t be enough to beat Ennis. In Edwards’s view, moving and sticking are survival tactics, not winning.
Moving and closing is exhausting for a fighter. Edwards points out that as the rounds go by, it gets harder to maintain that pace. Eventually the legs tire, the clinches get sloppy, and Ennis finds the opening.
Edwards is basically setting up a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. If Zayas uses the clinch/move style you’ve seen recently, Edwards thinks he’s losing a decision. If he tries to stand his ground to actually win, Edwards thinks he’s being stopped.
