With the exception of Naoya Inoue’s position as a prohibitive favorite over Alan Picasso in December, Top Rank’s world champions have signed up or found themselves locked in a daunting stretch of title-fight assignments between now and the end of January.
The latest to volunteer for a rugged test is new WBO 154lbs champion Xander Zayas 22-0 (13 KOs), who is in verbal agreement for a unification bout with WBA junior-middleweight champion Abass Baraou 17-1 (9 KOs), an official told BoxingScene Wednesday night.
“It’s what [Zayas] wants,” another official said.
That bout is penciled in for late January in what could be the start of Top Rank’s new broadcast deal after its eight-year connection with ESPN ended over the summer.
Discussions toward finalizing Zayas-Baraou are expected to continue Thursday at the WBO Convention in Bogota, Colombia, said an official connected to the talks.
The bout, a homecoming appearance by the 23-year-old Zayas in Puerto Rico after he won the belt in Top Rank’s farewell card on ESPN in July, was pressed for by Zayas even as Top Rank officials cautioned him to seek an assignment against an “undermatched” foe as the personable Zayas launches what the company hopes will be an extended title run.
Germany’s Baraou, 31, is coming off a convincing victory on the scorecards over a similarly talented young fighter, Cuba’s Yoenis Tellez, in August.
“He’s a real fighter,” one official said of Zayas. “He believes in himself.”
That daring theme is prevalent within the company, as its 24-year-old WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jnr 28-0 (22 KOs) jumped at the big-money opportunity to meet unbeaten former two-division champion Devin Haney 32-0 (15 KOs) November 22 in Saudi Arabia.
“[Norman] is getting paid beautifully, but [Haney] is the wrong style for him … [Haney’s] a stinky guy who will do what he does, just like he did against [former 140lbs champion Jose] Ramirez [in a fight with a record-low punch count],” assessed one official.
Norman’s purse has been speculated to be at or near $3 million.
On the same December 6 Prime Video pay-per-view card promoted by Premier Boxing Champions, Top Rank’s unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly meets PBC’s more experienced WBA champion Erislandy Lara while Top Rank’s WBC super-featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster defends his belt against featherweight champion Stephen Fulton of PBC.
While Alimkhanuly is a more comfortable -500 betting favorite, Foster finds himself in a virtual pick-em as a -115 favorite.
Meanwhile, new IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla of Top Rank is locked into a mandatory defense against unbeaten former Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz in a bout likely to occur in early 2026.
“[Muratalla] has a shot, but he’s in tough,” an official said.
Additional talks on that bout are also set for Thursday.
While Top Rank’s featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza of Mexico is expected to dispatch with challenger Arnold Khegai on November 15 in his home country, talks to stage a super-featherweight unification between Top Rank’s WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete and Matchroom’s Eduardo Nunez would result in another tossup affair.
One official said the propensity of 50-50 fights has “the guys who know boxing concerned,” within Top Rank while “others look at it like business.”
Without a television/streaming deal in place, some at the company have grown “nervous” about the situation.
Given the quality of opposition in these title fights, that’s expected to be a perpetual condition until the results unveil themselves.
