Junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas entered the ring to the adoring screams of the Puerto Rican faithful. And the latest phenomenon from the island nation stepped up in his main event debut.
Zayas dominated former world champion Patrick Teixeira (34-5, 25 KOs) via 10-round unanimous decision Saturday evening at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The scores — 100-90 2x and 99-91 — were representative of the one-way traffic.
Teixeira, who last held the WBO junior middleweight crown in 2021, entered the fight having won three straight. His championship experience, however, was no match for the 21-year-old San Juan native.
Zayas said, “Thank you to all my people in Puerto Rico. Since I was five years old, I dreamed about this. It’s happening, thanks to you guys, and I want to thank you for everything you do for me.
“He was tough. He knew how to survive in there. It was sometimes difficult to find the body, but with the experience, he hid it. I tried to land the hook, and he was ducking underneath. I feel like it was a tough test, but I passed it with flying colors.”
Zayas (19-0, 12 KOs) kept his foot on the pedal from the opening bell and kept hammering away at the head and body. By the eighth round, Teixeira was on the back foot, staring at the clock and doing whatever he could to slow down the Zayas onslaught. Zayas clipped Teixeira with a right hand in the ninth round, which opened up a cut. In the 10th, he went all out for the knockout, but the dramatic finish did not come. He won and will now move on to more significant opportunities.
Nineteen years ago, Miguel Cotto headlined Madison Square Garden’s first Puerto Rican Day Parade Eve card. Zayas is the next in line.
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