Xander Zayas says he plans to defeat Jorge Garcia Perez to win the vacant WBO Junior Middleweight title this Saturday, and then make an immediate unification fight against the WBC 154-Pond Champion Sebastian Fundora. The way Zayas (21-0, 13 CO’s) speaks is just a formality that he will defeat #2 Perez (33-4, 26 COs) to win the vacant WBO title.
Zayas vs. Perez Preview
Zayas-Perez will be in the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York on July 26. The event will be displayed directly on ESPN and ESPN+ at 21:00 ET / 18:00 pt for the main card. Prelims starts at 5:10 ET.
“I’m happy at 22. I fight for a world title. This is another struggle, and I have to take care of business, ‘said Xander Zayas Sean Zittel About his fight against Jorge Garcia Perez on Saturday. “It’s exciting to hear that people say they want me to be the next man for Puerto Rico, and that’s something I want to do.”
It would have looked better if Zayas beat some quality fighters to earn his number 1 rankings, because he just seems to have been in his top position, rather than putting him against A-level fighters to earn his position. Judge for yourself. These are Xander’s last three opponents:
– Slava Spomer
– Damian Sosa
– Patrick Teixeira
It is not accidentally that the top rank with Zayas against those fighters rather than Vergil Ortiz Jr., Israil Madrimov, Serhii Bohachuk or Yoenis Tellez.
“I want to bring glory to my island, but I want to bring Glory to Xander Zayas. I don’t want to bring the next tito or if the next cotto. I just want to be myself, ‘says Zayas.
There is no way that Xander can become the next Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad or Wilfredo Benitez for Puerto Rico because he does not have a force and he has a lot of rabbit in him. Zayas fight more like a cross between Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson. It is also not a compliment.
The reason why Zayas’s popularity has not increased is that his style is not entertaining. He is a larger version of Haney. The top rank pushed Zayas on the fans and hoped to turn him into a star, but it was a failure. He does not have the ‘IT factor’ that fans are looking for.
Zayas Unification Dreams
“When I become world champion, we can still make the fight happen in the future,” Zayas said of Sebastian Fundora. “I don’t think it’s duck. He made a business decision. ‘
It was a clear choice for fundora to make. Go towards a nice payday in a rematch with Tszyu in a fight that fans wanted to see, rather than fighting a lesser -known, defensive fighter for little money in Zayas. If the Puerto Rican was born, American Xander was popular, it would make sense for Fundora to fight against him. He brings nothing to the table.
Last updated on 07/23/2025
