Junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs) defeated Damian Sosa (25-3, 12 KOs) by a one-sided ten-round unanimous decision in a showcase fight Friday night in the co-feature at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90.
Zayas, 22, had his way against Sosa, pummeling him with left hooks to the body, jabs and straight rights that made him hesitate to throw. Sosa came into the fight known for having a high output, but he was afraid to open up against Zayas because he was often countered.
Sosa was competitive in rounds one and two, landing some good punches and making Zayas cautious about throwing. However, Sosa stopped fighting aggressively in the third and gave Zayas too much respect. Had Sosa continued to fight hard, Zayas would have had problems as he didn’t look comfortable with the punches he was being hit with.
Sosa, 27, stepped up his offense in the ninth and tenth, landing hooks to the head of Zayas. However, he lacked the strength to worry Zayas and was repeatedly nailed with counter punches.
Top Rank did a good job of picking Sosa over Zayas, who doesn’t have the biggest chin and could have problems down the road if he doesn’t improve on his defense. Zayas was excellent tonight at blocking shots and getting out of the way of Sosa’s punches.
For Zayas to compete with the power punchers at 154, such as Vergil Ortiz Jr, Israil Madrimov, Tim Tszyu and Serhii Bohachuk, he will need to have his defense on point.
Top Rank Zayas seems to fit in a similar way to Edgar Berlanga when they had him. They aren’t taking chances by putting Zayas in with fighters who can give him problems, and the focus seems to be on building a stellar record.
In the long run, this isn’t going to help Zayas because he’s going to be in for a shock when he comes in against a talented fighter with power, like Tszyu, Madrimov, Bohachuk or Ortiz Jr.
Sooner or later Top Rank will have to throw Zayas to the wolves to see how he will do. He won’t be turned into a fake star in the US by fighting lesser fighters. If Zayas is going to be the next Miguel Cotto or Felix Trinidad rather than the next Edgar Berlanga, the Top Rankings need to start matching him against mind opposition.
 defeated Damian Sosa (25-3, 12 KOs) by a one-sided ten-round unanimous decision in a showcase fight){kind=link}