Xander Zayas and Abass Baraou have made weight ahead of their junior middleweight title unification at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Zayas, the WBO titleholder, tipped the scales at 153.5lbs, while WBA titleholder Baraou matched him, weighing the same.
Zayas, 22-0 (13 KOs), will be aiming to secure titles in consecutive bouts after winning the vacant WBO title against Jorge Garcia Perez in July. A 23-year-old born in San Juan but now training out of Florida, Zayas will be fighting for the first time in Puerto Rico as a beltholder.
Baraou, 17-1 (9 KOs), defeated Yoenis Tellez to win the vacant WBA title. A 31-year-old from Berlin, Germany, Baraou has spent several years training in Miami. A notable storyline is that Zayas and Baraou have sparred in the past. Baraou is on an eight-fight win streak since his lone career loss, to Jack Culcay in 2020.
The original co-feature will no longer take place as planned, as welterweight Rohan Polanco had to withdraw from his bout against Christian Gomez.
Full weigh-in results as follows:
Junior middleweight – 12 rounds
Xander Zayas (153.5lbs) vs. Abass Baraou (153.5lbs)
Junior bantamweight – six rounds
Juanma Lopez De Jesus (114.8lbs) vs. Conner Russell Goade (113.9lbs)
Junior lightweight – six rounds
Carlos De Leon Castro (129.7lbs) vs. Diuhl Olguin (129.6lbs)
Junior bantamweight – four rounds
Yadriel Caban (115.0lbs) vs Jeremis Hernandez-Torres (114.7lbs)
Middleweight – 10 rounds
Euri Cedeno (159.7lbs) vs. Etoundi Michel William (159.9lbs)
Junior middleweight – 10 rounds
Giovani Santillan (153.9lbs) vs. Courtney Pennington (153.5lbs)
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
