Xander Zayas and Abass Baraou get along well enough and agree on many things.
For example, Germany’s Baraou stated at the start of the promotion for their 154lbs unification bout that he will return home “with a lot of new fans from Puerto Rico.” Zayas certainly co-signs – but laughs at the rest of the statement, particularly the part where his upcoming rival insists that he will leave the island as a unified champion.
“I agree, Abass is gonna go home with a lot of new fans,” Zayas told BoxingScene. “Just not the belts.”
Zayas, 22-0 (13 KOs), and Baraou, 17-1 (9 KOs), will meet Saturday in a WBO-WBA unification clash at the famed Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan. Both boxers will be attempting the first defense of their respective reigns – Zayas risking the WBO belt he claimed last July and Baraou putting on the line the WBA belt that he was officially awarded last September.
Outside the parameters of the fight, this weekend’s headliners genuinely get along. They have shared hours in the gym, each having helped the other prepare for their most recent outings.
Zayas claimed the vacant WBO 154lbs belt in a lopsided unanimous decision victory over Mexico’s Jorge Garcia last July 26 at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City. The location has served as a home away from home for Zayas, who was born and raised in San Juan before his family relocated to South Florida when he was 11 years old.
Saturday will mark just his second career fight on his home island and his first as a main event.
When the show was in initial discussion, Top Rank sought a traditional route for his first title defense. Zayas was not on board with that plan and insisted his return home had to be special.
That’s when he turned to a familiar face.
Baraou was an underdog heading into his challenge of then-WBA interim titlist Yoenis Tellez. Their August 23 thriller at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, saw the visiting 31-year-old Baraou score a dramatic 12th-round knockdown to turn away the unbeaten Tellez and claim the secondary version of the belt.
“I was not surprised at all by it,” insisted Zayas, whose own personal interaction with Baraou made his pre-fight opinion an expert one. “I know Abass, we sparred many rounds together, and I knew how dangerous he was for Yoenis Tellez. It didn’t catch me by surprise at all.
“I just wanted to fight the winner. To be honest, I knew it was going to be a closer fight than most people predicted. They thought it was going to be a one-sided fight for Tellez. But I was prepared to fight Yoenis Tellez if he won, just like I knew at that moment when Abass Baraou won the fight that he was the opponent, the new champion that I had to fight next.”
Zayas was in attendance at the DAZN event and engaged in a stare down with Baraou, which put the wheels in motion to secure this two-belt affair.
That said, it took some convincing – not so much for Baraou (in fact, not at all), but for his own team.
“Top Rank gave me a couple of names, but I didn’t want to fight just any top-15 opponent for an event like this,” noted Zayas. “Anybody can do that. It’s easy for a champion to get his first title defense against an opponent they know they can beat, talking about, ‘I just want to get my feet wet.’
“Me, I’ve been getting my feet wet in the pros since I was 16 years old. I’m ready to go. So when Top Rank gave me some names, I gave them my own names back – Abass Baraou, Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev. My next fight had to be against one of the champions.”
The choice quickly became an easy one.
Fundora, 23-1-1 (15 KOs), was already locked into an agreed WBC title defense against former unified welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman. The two were due to meet last October, but the event was postponed when Fundora suffered an injury.
BoxingScene has since learned that the contractually bound title fight will be rescheduled for March 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
There was expressed interest from unbeaten IBF titlist Bakhram Murtazaliev, 23-0 (17 KOs). However, the hard-hitting Russian was out of the ring for more than a year and past due for a mandatory title defense. He will satisfy that agreement this weekend when he faces Josh Kelly, 17-1-1 (9 KOs), on the road in Newcastle, England.
The fight will take place mere hours before Zayas and Baraou enter the ring.
“I love it that we’re fighting on the same night,” Zayas said of three of the four major belts being at stake between the two bouts this Saturday. “I’m going into this fight saying, ‘I want two [belts].’ Now I can leave the ring saying, ‘I want three!’ Three’s better than two any day of the week.
“Of course, we both have a lot to focus on. He’s got his thing going on over there, I got this fight in front of me right here.”
That puts the focus squarely on Baraou, firstly as an honorable man who accepted the fight without hesitation. More so, Zayas’ quest to become undisputed champion means he has to get through this weekend with his “0” and title status still intact.
“The moment we offered it to Abass, he accepted it right away,” stated Zayas. “In the ring, he is someone trying to take my title, and I plan to do just that to him. But I can’t say enough good things about him, being a professional and wanting to fight the best just like I do.
“Just the fact that he’s coming over here to fight me and put his belt on the line, that deserves a lot of respect. The fans over here love that; we embrace everybody. They’ll give him his respect, for sure. We just can’t let him go home with the title he’s bringing over.”
