NEW YORK, NY — Xander Zayas is 23-years old, and two years older than WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason, both of whom are contracted with Top Rank Boxing. Zayas, though, gets more acclaim holding the WBO junior middleweight championship, a division that is highly competitive.
But to the undefeated Zayas (22–0, 13 K0’s), this has never been about himself, he loves boxing. He’s been in the ring since 11 years of age as an amateur competitor representing Puerto Rico. Zayas can punch and Top Rank signed him to a promotional contract at the age of 16.
He is proud and the newest member of a strong championship presence of fighters from Puerto Rico. Mention the names of Hall of Famers on an extensive list including Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Héctor Camacho, and Wifred Benítez. And now it’s the name of Xander Zayas.
A mural of Xander Zayas was recently unveiled at a Boys & Girls Cub located in San Juan, Puerto Rico ahead of his fight this Saturday – Image Credit: Top Rank Boxing
It took time and progression, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum knows how to milk fighters to a championship. Zayas has all the criteria of a champion, a gym in the Miami-Dade County area, and takes numerous back-and-forth trips to his native land in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“I know what he brings to the table and he knows what I bring,” Zayas said this week, making final preparations for his first title defense Saturday evening against WBA champion Abass Baraou (17-1, 9 KO’s) at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, PR.
And this fight is more than a homecoming for Zayas, the significance and difficult process of unifying titles at 154. The division has an array of champions and superstar names in a sport that needs to unify. Jaron “Boots” Ennis is an interim champion and recently moved up in weight with his quest also to unify.
Xander Zayas will look to improve to 23-0 this Saturday vs. Abass Baraou in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the bout marks the first title defense for both fighters – Image Credit: Top Rank Boxing
Sebastian Fundora, the WBC champion, Bakhram Murtazaliev with the IBF title, and Baraaou, the WBA holder, as well. Keith Thurman, former champion at 147 is also in the mix. Confusing, yes, this division is causing havoc in boxing circles, though Zayas hopes to clarify something with a win.
A win gets him halfway towards a unification fight and one of the other champions, then again boxing is that sport of confusion, different promotions and streaming networks make it more difficult to unify divisions. A goal of Dana White and Zuffa is to put an end to this madness and recognize one champion with the Ring title thus bypassing those alphabet soup sanctioning organizations.
Also, Top Rank remains without a streaming network. Zayas, their major champion among a few more, will defend his title on Top Rank Classics. Good luck finding the channel which hurts Zayas in his quest and marketing appeal.
And two other major fight cards streaming at the same time, where have we heard this in the past? Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson’s mega fight in New York at Madison Square Garden is streaming on DAZN this Saturday.
Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez will meet in the ring at Madison Square Garden this Saturday in a mega-fight which will also be available on DAZN – Image Credit: Matchroom Boxing
The world wide leader will also televise two important championship cards from the United Kingdom and Denmark.
Regardless, in July last year, the journey commenced for Zayas with a celebration after defeating Mexico’s Jorge Garcia by unanimous decision for the vacant title at The Theater of MSG.
“I want to be a champion in the next two years,” he said after a win at the Garden, where Zayas loves to fight. “I know it takes time but I am ready. Couple more fights. I want to do it here.”
All of his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico will be behind Xander Zayas this coming Saturday as he goes up against Abass Baraou – Image Credit: Top Rank Boxing
Now, though, he defends at home. Like the Garden fans, San Juan boxing supporters will be behind their champion. They appreciate their heritage and significance of boxing history. Zayas is their superstar who rose to stardom with quick hands and a powerful punch that finishes the job. He intends to defend and finish the job though not taking his opponent as a mediocre champion.
They know each other, being sparring partners at one point. The fight could go 12-rounds, Zayas though tends to try and go for the finish in late rounds if it gets there.
“Sparring is sparring,” Zayas said. “The real fight is the difference.”
He landed 50 more jabs and 19 more power punches than Garcia and won the title despite throwing 81 fewer power punches (according to CompuBox). That’s his style of out-boxing an opponent and it works to perfection.
Xander Zayas’ last time in the ring came last July at The Theater of Madison Square Garden, defeating Jorge Garcia by unanimous decision – Image Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Boxing
This is the second unification clash ever held on the island and gives Zayas the opportunity to become the youngest active unified champ and the first Boricua to do it on home turf.
“I want to be the first Puerto Rican to unify titles on the island,” he said. “That’s really important to me because I want to keep making history and building my legacy. Everybody is used to seeing champions take softer touches for their first defense. But because I’m going back to my island.”
He added, “I needed to do something big and give something special to the fans. Baraou is also making his first defense, so we’ll see two young fighters who want to show that big unification fights are still possible.”
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com with coverage on boxing, MLB, and MLS – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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