Madison Square Garden in New York saw Xander Zayas crowned the new WBO super welterweight title, as he took a points win against Jorge Garcia Perez to claim the vacant belt.
Zayas (22-0, KO13) was last in action in February, stopping Slawa Spomer in nine rounds to move closer to world title contention, while Mexico’s Perez (33-5, KO26) had won eight straight since a 2023 split decision loss to Etoundi Michel William, and upset the unbeaten Charles Conwell via split decision in his last outing.
Zayas began sharply, with his left hand catching the eye in the first round, and although Garcia landed with a hard right of his own, Zayas responded well.
Zayas was putting his punches together well, and his power punches were troubling Garcia, who couldn’t get out of the way of them.
Garcia was forced to rush his work, and Zayas’ footwork was the key to him dictating the contest, and the fifth saw a pair of Zayas left hooks seemingly trouble the Mexican, with an uppercut combination thrown in for good measure.
The sixth saw Garcia hurt from a right hand, and a round later yet another two-punch combination seemed to shake him up, but he remained upright and brave in the heat of battle, even having successes of his own at the end of the eighth.
Garcia was trying his best, but just couldn’t break through, and the penultimate round had the two in a frantic exchange in centre ring, with Zayas yet again getting the better of it.
Zayas finished well, and as teh bout went to the cards, it was inevitable that the Puerto Rican would be crowned champion.
So it proved, as scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112 saw Zayas lift the title.
Bruce Carrington (16-0, KO9) took the WBC interim lightweight title at the head of the undercard, as he claimed a wide points win against Mateus Heita (14-1, KO9).
Carrington bossed the contest, and ran out a winner handily on the scorecards by a tally of 120-108 for one judge, and 119-109 for the remaining judges.
In ten-rounders, welterweight prospect Rohan Polanco (17-0, KO10) took a clear points win against Quinton Randall (15-3-1, KO3).
Scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93 ensured Polanco stayed unbeaten.
At featherweight, Yan Carlos Santana-Guerrero (15-0, KO12) won every round on all three scorecards against Aaron Alameda (30-3, KO17).
At eight-round level, Steven Navarro (7-0, KO5) was taken the distance by Cristopher Rios (11-3, KO7) but won their super flyweight clash on points, and Emiliano Vargas (15-0, KO13) needed under a round to take out Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza (20-4-1, KO9) at super lightweight.
In four-rounders, super flyweight hope Juanma Lopez de Jesus (3-0, KO2) secured a second-round stoppage against Jorge L. Gonzalez-Sanchez (5-3, KO4), and debutant Jesus Ballo (1-0, KO0) won his featherweight bout with Branda Ayala (2-1, KO1) on points.
