Xander Zayas has been touted as a contender since he was a young person, and he confirmed why on Saturday night time in New York, dominating Patrick Teixeira in a unanimous-decision victory to stay undefeated as a junior middleweight prospect.
Zayas (19-0, 12 KOs), 21, additionally established his boxing future otherwise at Hulu Theater inside Madison Sq. Backyard. The native of San Juan was combating on the weekend of the Puerto Rico Day Parade, a conventional night time for fighters from the island to be stars of the present on the Backyard. Miguel Cotto and Felix Trinidad are amongst those that made this custom memorable.
Zayas, who signed with Prime Rank when he was 16 and made his professional debut six weeks after his seventeenth birthday, marched ahead from the beginning with assaults to the physique. He landed 10 physique punches within the second spherical and one other 9 within the third, whereas Teixeira managed simply three throughout these six minutes. That put Zayas in full management, and by the top of the combat he had landed 76 physique punches to 12 for Teixeira. Zayas’ total benefit in punches landed was 204-63. He was threatening from begin to end.
However Teixeira (34-5, 25 KOs), who held the WBO junior middleweight world championship in 2021, stood powerful and made it to the ultimate bell. Zayas moved his assault upstairs in Spherical 8 and snapped the 33-year-old Brazilian’s head again a number of occasions with hooks and uppercuts. By the top of the ninth, Teixeira’s face was bloody and he was in survival mode, shifting away from Zayas and throwing little offense again on the younger fighter. Teixeira’s motion and toughness enabled him to make it to the top.
Two of the three judges scored each spherical for Zayas, whereas the third gave Teixeira one spherical.
“Thanks to the individuals of Puerto Rico,” Zayas mentioned afterward. “Since I am 5 years previous, I have been dreaming about this.”
On Sunday, Zayas will participate within the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.
Within the co-main occasion, 2020 Olympic gold medalist Bruce Carrington knocked out late-notice opponent Brayan De Gracia within the eighth spherical of a dominant featherweight efficiency.
In scoring his third straight knockout, Carrington (12-0, 8 KOs), nicknamed “Shu Shu,” was quicker and extra aggressive the entire approach. The 27-year-old from Brownsville, Brooklyn, knocked down De Gracia within the fifth and seventh rounds, though on the second the ropes prevented the Panamanian from falling to the canvas.
De Gracia (29-4, 25 KOs) didn’t hit the ground on the end, both, as Carrington trapped him in opposition to the ropes late in Spherical 8 and unleashed a flurry till the referee jumped in with 4 seconds left earlier than the bell.
