Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) put on a Tom and Jerry performance, running & holding his way to a dull 12-round unanimous decision over Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) to win the vacant WBO junior middleweight title on Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden Theater.
Fans at ringside were mostly quiet due to the movement and holding that Zayas was doing. These pro-Zayas fans looked uncomfortable with what they were watching. You can’t blame them because it was awful to watch.
It’s hard to believe that Top Rank has poured so much money into creating Zayas in an effort to make him into a pseudo-star. He’s terrible to watch, and he will beat any of the other champions at 154. They’d be crazy to try to match Zayas against the other champions.
The scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108.
Undercard results
Featherweight Bruce Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) captured the WBC interim featherweight title, defeating Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision. The scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108.
Carrington chose to box and move all night rather than slug it out with the harder-hitting Heita. He got caught with some big shots from Heita early on that made him realize that it wasn’t a good idea to stand and fight him. Heita followed Carrington around all night, hitting him hard when he would stop moving, and blocking a lot of the return fire from Shu Shu.
It wasn’t the impressive performance that Carrington needed to entertain his New York fans. Indeed, he made it boring with his approach. If the gold standard for entertainment at featherweight is WBO champion Rafael Espinoza, Carrington was more like the copper standard.
Light welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (15-0, 13 KOs) mowed down Alexander Espinoza (20-4-1, 9 KOs), scoring a one-punch first-round knockout. Vargas landed a perfectly placed right to the jaw of Espinoza, sending him down on the canvas. He was in no condition to get up, and the fight was promptly halted. The time was 42 seconds of round one.
Welterweight contender Rohan Polanco (17-0, 10 KOs) defeated the experienced veteran Quinton Randall (15-3-1, 3 KOs) by a wide 10-round unanimous decision. Polanco was missing badly while loading up on shots, trying hard to generate power to score a knockout. Not a big puncher despite his 10 knockouts, Polanco struggled with the boxing skills of Randall. The scores were 97-93, 100-90, and 99-91. It was a lot closer fight than the scores showed.
Super flyweight prospect Juanma Lopez De Jesus (3-0, 2 KOs) made easy work of Jorge L. Gonzalez-Sanchez (5-3, 4 KOs), stopping him in the second round due to a blown call by the referee. Juanma knocked Gonzalez-Sanchez down three times in the fight. Twice in round one, and the final in round two.
Referee John Murdock pulled the plug on the fight after Juanma knocked Gonzalez-Sanchez down with a cuffing right hand that pulled him down onto the canvas. The referee seemingly didn’t see the cuffing shot and waived off the fight. The time was at 1:14 of round two.
Featherweight Yan Santana (15-0, 12 KOs) dominated Aaron Alameda (30-3, 17 KOs), hitting him at will at times with shots to earn a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90.
Zayas vs. Garcia: Vacant Title Clash
Top Rank could regret its decision to match its diamond-in-the-rough prospect, Zayas, against the more battle-tested Jorge Garcia. While Zayas, 22, is ranked #1 with the WBO, in truth, he’s a mere prospect with no world-class experience going up against the Mexico-born fighter who hasn’t been given the same red carpet treatment throughout his career.
Tonight’s Zayas-Garcia main card starts at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+. The preliminary card will air on ESPN+ beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Bruce Carrington: Interim Title Bout
Bruce Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) fights for the vacant WBC interim featherweight title against Mateus Hiata (14-0, 9 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature. Fans have second-guessed the World Boxing Council’s decision to have their interim 126-lb belt up for grabs for this fight. #11 Hiata isn’t highly ranked, and Carrington hasn’t looked particularly impressive in his recent fights against lower-level opposition.
Complete Main Card
Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez
Bruce Carrington vs. Mateus Heita
Emiliano Vargas vs. Alexander Espinoza
Prelims Undercard Streamed on ESPN+
Rohan Polanco vs. Quinton Randall
Juanmita Lopez De Jesus vs. Jorge Gonzalez-Sanchez
Yan Santana vs. Aaron Alameda
Steven Navarro vs. Cristopher Rios
Julius Ballo vs. Brandan Ayala
Top Rank’s Strategy: Building a Star
Fans believe that Top Rank has vetted Xander Zayas’ opponent, Jorge Garcia, thoroughly and deemed him ideal for showcase purposes, making Xander look better than he actually is. If Garcia were a real threat, he wouldn’t have been selected as Zayas’ opponent.
Viewed as a hype job, Xander is not the type of talent that can be matched against fighters like Israil Madrimov, Erickson Lubin, Vergil Ortiz Jr, Jaron Ennis, or Serhii Bohachuk and be expected to win.
