Saturday’s fight, for the vacant WBO junior-middleweight title, between Xander Zayas and Jorge Garcia Perez can enhance the already appealing-and-competitive landscape at 154lbs.
Zayas is a good-looking, marketable contender – a Puerto Rican in New York – who has been performing impressively. We’ve been waiting for a successor to Felix “Tito” Trinidad and Miguel Cotto. We hoped that Edgar Berlanga would be that successor, but he has proved he’s not – Zayas might yet prove it instead, but he has a tough fight in front of him before he wins a world title.
Charles Conwell looked likely to be Zayas’ opponent – at one stage, so did Sebastian Fundora – but Perez impressed in victory over him in April. If Zayas is the favorite, he’s reaching the level at which Berlanga’s limitations were exposed; victory over Perez would take him closer to becoming the focal point of Puerto Rican boxing, but it wouldn’t yet give him the mantle Trinidad and Cotto once enjoyed.
For starters, he lacks their punching power. Trinidad’s power was intimidating, and Cotto – though not quite the puncher Trinidad was – was also a brutal puncher capable of breaking opponents down. Zayas, by comparison, is a tactician. His skill, not his strength, poses his greatest threat. He also has a strong work ethic and sense of discipline, so his potential might yet prove sufficient for him to finally follow them. And regardless of his weight division, that would be welcome, because in addition to when boxing has a strong heavyweight division and a leading Mexican fighter, it is at its healthiest when there’s also a Puerto Rican to invest in.
Given the widespread expectation that Top Rank’s association with ESPN will soon come to an end, it’s becoming even more important for Top Rank to establish Zayas where it hopes to. Zayas, whose stamina is another of his strengths, is big at 154lbs. He complements the volume of his punching with sound technique, and he’s good to watch, so he, and they, may well succeed.
Beyond a lack of power, it’s experience at the highest level he lacks. How will he respond when he finds himself under pressure and in a tough fight, which so far hasn’t happened?
Perez – his being from Mexico complements the picture surrounding Zayas’ background – stopped Ilias Essaoudi inside a round in September 2024, and then he beat up the tough Kudratillo Abdukakhorov three months later, before the even more impressive victory over Conwell. He’s also savvy and experienced – in many respects the test that Zayas needs.
The fact that Perez is neither the most mobile nor blessed with fast hands or feet means I expect Zayas to start fast and build a convincing lead, and then to have to resist Perez growing into the fight with his experience. Perez will attempt to set traps and hurt Zayas, but Zayas’ stamina can re-establish his dominance and help earn him a one-sided decision. Ultimately, I expect Zayas to look good and to deliver another demonstration of his potential – but for question marks to continue to surround him, including whether his considerable size means he remains at 154 or moves up.
Fundora prioritized a WBC title fight against Tim Tszyu over Zayas, and in the process he vacated the WBO title because Tszyu represented a more lucrative opponent. There’s the Tszyu name, the controversy and narrative of their first fight, the fact that they both work with Premier Boxing Champions.
I’ve heard Zayas and his team speak – they are convinced that he has the beating of Fundora. But I also don’t believe Fundora was reluctant to fight him – like Tszyu, Fundora would fight anyone. He’s a competitor and wanted to put the uncertainty of their first fight behind him.
In the rematch with Tszyu, he showed that he’s getting better. It was during their first fight that, for the first time, Fundora consistently used a jab. This time he showed a much better jab – one that was snappy and deceptive and had variety. The way he performed during those first five rounds would trouble anyone operating at 154.
But Tszyu also showed how easy Fundora still is to hit. If he had the one-punch power shown by other junior middleweights, it may have been a different outcome. I expected Tszyu to win, on account of him being more sound tactically, but the way he got dropped in the first round showed the extent he is damaged off the back of losing to Bakhram Murtazaliev.
My initial reaction to the outcome was that Tszyu doesn’t have a future at the highest level. Deeper reflection led me to conclude that he can rebuild, but it’ll be very hard for him – he has lost three of his past four fights and has twice been stopped. He boldly gave everything in the sixth round of the rematch, having been hurt in every round before then, but he had nothing left, which concerned me. He has previously gone out on his shield. This time, even more worryingly than him getting knocked out again, he looked broken. There has been talk of Tszyu fighting Keith Thurman, but despite my admiration for his willingness to accept tough fights, I don’t think he needs an opponent with the savvy of Thurman next.
Murtazaliev being ordered by the IBF to fight Erickson Lubin means we can hopefully finally look forward to him returning to the ring. Lubin, at his very best, is an explosive, talented fighter. If he still has those abilities, he could prove an entertaining challenger. Murtazaliev is a much better fighter than he is given credit for, however, and therefore the early favorite. Like he showed against Tszyu, he’s as dangerous as they come. Unfortunately for him, he also represents a low-reward opponent. If he didn’t have a title, he would struggle to stay in the mix.
