When is Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas?
Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas is on Saturday, January 31. The broadcast will begin at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time (10:30 p.m. GMT).
What channel is Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas on?
Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas will stream on the Top Rank Classics channel online and on smart televisions via The Roku Channel, Tubi and Vizio.
Where is Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas?
The fight is taking place at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, also known as the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Who is Abass Baraou?
Abass Baraou, 17-1 (9 KOs), is the WBA junior middleweight titleholder. His lone defeat came in 2020, when he dropped a razor-thin split decision to Jack Culcay. Baraou has won eight fights since then, the most notable coming in his last outing in August.
Baraou came in that night as the underdog against highly touted contender Yoenis Tellez, who held a secondary WBA belt while Terence Crawford remained the organization’s primary titleholder at 154lbs. The fight took place in Orlando, Florida, which had regularly hosted the Cuban Tellez. Baraou was not at all intimidated and took the fight to his 10-0 foe, building a commanding lead and dropping Tellez in the 12th round to punctuate his unanimous decision victory.
Baraou has since been upgraded. The 31-year-old from Germany is once again going to hostile territory, traveling to Puerto Rico to face Xander Zayas. The winner will leave this unification bout with two world titles and an eye on the other men with belts – Sebastian Fundora (WBC) is expected to face Keith Thurman next, while Bakhram Murtazaliev (IBF) is due to defend against Josh Kelly on the same day as Baraou vs. Zayas.
There’s also the WBA’s secondary titleholder, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who may see this as a good option if a deal for a highly anticipated bout with Vergil Ortiz Jnr can’t be made.
Who is Xander Zayas?
Zayas, 22-0 (13 KOs), is the WBO junior middleweight titleholder at 154lbs. He won the vacant belt in July, when he defeated Jorge Garcia Perez via unanimous decision. Garcia Perez had previously given highly touted junior middleweight contender Charles Conwell his first defeat.
Now Zayas is simultaneously doing a victory lap while taking a unification bout. The 23-year-old hails from Puerto Rico and lives in Florida, and he’s headlining in his homeland while hoping to become the next icon from the boxing-loving island.
The win over Garcia Perez was a nice step up for Zayas, whose biggest wins before then were wide decisions over former title challenger Patrick Teixeira and the 25-2 Damian Sosa, and a ninth-round TKO of the 20-0 Slawa Spomer. Zayas is still young, yet he’s been fighting professionally since he was 17 and should no longer be competing against the second and third tiers of his weight class.
Facing Baraou, a fellow titleholder, is a good way to go into deeper waters without necessarily going in over his head too soon. Depending on if he wins on Saturday, and how he looks, Zayas and his team could then figure out what the logical next step would be.
The lack of a television contract right now for his promoter, Top Rank, could come into play. Either they would need to take on notable fighters who are with other companies that have TV or streaming deals, or we may see Zayas ply his trade in Puerto Rico and Florida against lesser foes, relying on ticket sales to make money while continuing to build him into an attraction.
The WBO’s junior middleweight rankings list Josh Kelly at No. 1 – Kelly is challenging IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev on the same day as Baraou vs. Zayas – followed by Brandon Adams, Keith Thurman, Rashidi Ellis, Serhii Bohachuk, Giovani Santillan, Adrian Marcelo Sasso, Israil Madrimov, Callum Walsh, Garcia Perez, Julian Vogel, Nikita Tszyu, Milan Prat, Marco Ezequiel Garcia Ovejero and Yoenis Tellez.
What other fights are on the undercard of Abass Baraou vs. Xander Zayas?
The undercard includes welterweight prospect Rohan Polanco, 17-0 (10 KOs), taking on Christian Gomez, 23-6-1 (21 KOs). Former welterweight contender Giovani Santillan, 34-1 (18 KOs), is testing the waters at 154lbs against Courtney Pennington, 17-11-3 (7 KOs).
Middleweight prospect Euri Cedeno, 13-0-1 (12 KOs), who made it to the quarterfinals of the Olympics in 2021 before losing to the eventual silver medalist, will meet Etoundi Michel William, 16-2 (12 KOs). And junior bantamweight prospect Juanma Lopez De Jesus, 4-0 (2 KOs), an Olympian who is the son of former titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez, will continue his development. In his sole bout of the 2024 Games, Lopez De Jesus lost to the eventual gold medalist.
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
