Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs) survived a brief scare in the third round, but the damage accumulated with knockdowns he tallied in rounds one, five and seven was more than enough to get the job done and snatch the WBA and WBO 154-pound titles Zayas (23-1, 13 KOs) owned.

After the fight, attention immediately turned to the new champion taking on title unification fights against WBC champion Sebastian Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs), IBF beltholder Josh Kelly (18-1-1, 9 KOs), as well as The Ring’s No. 1-rated contender and WBC interim titleholder, Vergil Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs).

"Yeah I’m sleeping Jaron," Ortiz said on social media during a tirade which included criticism of the former champion. "If I get him like that, I promise you I will get him out of there."

Ortiz's longtime Golden Boy Promotions teammate Ryan Garcia concurred.

"Vergil by stoppage – book that fight," Garcia said on social media after previously picking Ennis to beat Zayas. "Never doubt my predictions … Congratulations Boots, and great heart shown by Xander, hats off."

As Ortiz and Golden Boy appear to be inching closer to settling their more than six-month-long legal dispute, which stalled Ennis from fighting Ortiz as originally planned, Oscar De La Hoya also entered the equation with a positive update of his own.

"Boots, what a great fight. He's a machine. Zayas was a little inexperienced, but he will be back. He's a great fighter," De La Hoya said on social media. "Let's make the biggest fight today between Vergil Ortiz and Boots Ennis – let's go!"

Ortiz’s manager, Rick Mirigian, who's been chided by De La Hoya in recent months for the legal war, predicted that Ortiz stops Ennis in five rounds while chiming in on De La Hoya’s self-recorded video by saying, "Forty-five million – just kidding. Let's get on the phone Monday with [Golden Boy president] Eric [Gomez] and figure it out."

Meanwhile, retired five-division world champion Terence Crawford shared a coy message once their encounter ended.

"I'm going to keep my comments to myself, but y'all get it, I hope," the 38-year-old said while sharing a face with tears of joy emoji, likely referring to the scare Ennis survived in round three.

Ennis has long been compared to Crawford as a potential pound-for-pound top player and they were linked to meet at welterweight before the latter moved up, seeking more legacy-defining bouts to cap a Hall of Fame career.

Despite eating a fight-high 28 punches in the third frame, looking rattled and holding at times, Ennis quickly recovered and never looked back from there. He outlanded Zayas 148-to-90 in total for their encounter before the champion's corner stopped the slugfest.

Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn is now tasked with seizing this massive wave of momentum and insisted he's ready to make the best fights possible.

Kelly is slated to make a title defense July 25, while Fundora remains idle without clear plans. Ennis' promoter claimed during the post-fight presser that Luis DeCubas had already messaged him about a three-belt unification.

"When you become unified, you want to become undisputed. We didn't get the chance to do that at 147, and now we have to try to do it at 154," Hearn said during his post-fight remarks in the ring.

"The Vergil Ortiz fight must get made. But at the same time, I think [Ortiz will] want a run out. He's been out since [November]. [Ennis] is the guy, the money now in the division. We're not looking to be difficult, just letting everybody know, this is the superstar of boxing, and he's coming to win every belt at 154, 160, and 168."

Ennis left his next fight up to the powers that be when making his in-ring remarks.

"Whoever Eddie wants, that's who we are going to get," Ennis said. "Bring on Vergil, bring on them belts. I'm here to be undisputed in this weight class, so it doesn't matter who it is. I am taking over this division."