Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) won a boring 12-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBO junior middleweight title by beating Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) on Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City.
The referee allowed Zayas to get away with constant holding throughout the fight, which should have resulted in warnings. The running that Zayas did made the fight even more difficult to watch, as he looked like he was afraid to stand his ground and fight Garcia.
The scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108.
“It’s amazing for me to represent Puerto Rico at the highest level and to put the pride of my island at the top. I had to box my way to victory. The jab was the key to victory,” said Zayas.
Xander called out someone after the fight, but his accented English made it impossible to know who it was.
Results
Bruce Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) boxed his way to a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision over fringe contender Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs) to win the WBC interim featherweight title in the chief support bout. It wasn’t an entertaining fight to watch due to Carrington doing a lot of moving. The fight showed that Carrington doesn’t have much dog in him and lacks the aggressiveness needed to become a star. He tries to be slick but wastes a lot of energy doing so.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Carrington who was the bigger puncher. Heita clearly had the superior power and didn’t need to load up on his shots to generate a lot of pop. Carrington only sporadically mixed up with Heita. Instead, ‘Shu Shu’ moved around a lot, looking to land pot shots and tie up Heita. The scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108.
The performance revealed Carrington’s limitations as a fighter. He’s not a big enough or aggressive enough fighter to compete with WBO champion Rafael Espinoza, and will have problems with WBA belt-holder Nick Ball as well. Top Rank is angling Carrington toward WBC champion Stephen Fulton, who isn’t a big puncher, and he’d have a better chance of beating him. Espinoza would be too much for Carrington. Bruce would likely turn the fight into a Tom and Jerry one, forcing Espinoza to chase him around the ring.
Emiliano Vargas (15-0, 13 KOs) obliterated Alexander Espinoza (20-4-1, 9 KOs) by a first-round knockout of a scheduled eight-round fight in the light welterweight division. Espinoza, 34, threw a lazy jab, and Vargas immediately countered with a right hand to the jaw. The shot sent Espinoza down. He was too hurt to get up, and the referee then stopped the contest.
The time was 42 seconds of round one. Espinoza came into the fight with a 2-2 record in his last four fights. It’s still too early to know if Vargas will pan out in the pro ranks because Top Rank has been matching him against strictly weak opposition. If they put him in with someone who will punch back, he could have problems. Thus far, he’s mowing down the C and D-level opposition that Top Rank has dug up.
Top Rank has been giving Vargas the Berlanga-type tomato can matchmaking. So, it’s not a surprise that he’s looking invincible. That’s the problem with Top Rank’s cards. The A-side fighters are always matched against weak opposition. The matchmakers for Top Rank do such a good job of ensuring their fighters always win that it takes away any real drama from the events. There’s seldom an upset where their fighters lose due to the matchmaking. Emiliano’s win tonight was a perfect example.
Rohan Polanco (17-0, 10 KOs) pounded out a lackluster 10-round unanimous decision over Quinton Randall (15-3-1, 3 KOs) in a welterweight fight. The scores were 97-93, 100-90, and 99-91. The Dominican Republic-born Polanco, 26, missed a lot with his punches and showed little punching power.
He was at his best in the first half of the fight when he was applying pressure. In the second half, Polanco looked sluggish, loading up on his shots, missing badly, and not showing much pop on his punches. Randall, 34, had his best round in the seventh, when he repeatedly caught Polanco with right hands while he was coming forward.
Top Rank is going to need to match Polanco carefully because he doesn’t have the power to compete with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. or some of the other talented fighters at 147.
Juanma Lopez De Jesus (3-0, 2 KOs) scored a highly questionable second-round technical knockout over Jorge L. Gonzalez-Sanchez (5-3, 4 KOs) in a super flyweight bout scheduled for four rounds. Juanma dropped Gonzalez-Sanchez twice in round one. In the second, Juanma caught Gonzalez-Sanchez with a cuffing right hand to the back of the head to put him down.
When he got back to his feet, referee John Murdock surprisingly halted the contest. It was a weird stoppage, as Gonzalez-Sanchez wasn’t hurt, and he motioned to the referee that he’d been hit to the back of his head. Nevertheless, the referee stood firm and waived it off. The time of the stoppage was at 1:14 of round two. Hopefully, this isn’t the kind of officiating we see on the main card, favoring the A-side fighters. It would be one thing for a referee to blow a call for the B-side guy, but when it’s benefiting the A-side guy, it’s disappointing.
The 2024 Olympian Lopez De Jesus, 19, is the son of former two-division world champion Juan Manuel ‘Juanma’ Lopez.
Yan Santana (15-0, 12 KOs) used his power and combination punching to defeat veteran Aaron Alameda (30-3, 17 KOs) by a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision in a featherweight action. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90.
Garcia Threatens Zayas’s Undefeated Record
Garcia (33-4, 26 KOs) presents a massive test for Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs), as he has talent, unlike the 21 fighters that Xander has been matched against by his promoters at Top Rank. Although Jorge Garcia is nowhere near the top five 154-pounders in the division, he’s still far superior to the level of opposition that Zayas has been matched against in his six-year pro career.
Main Card: Zayas, Carrington, Vargas
- Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez
- Bruce Carrington vs. Mateus Heita
- Emiliano Vargas vs. Alexander Espinoza
Preliminary Undercard at 6:00 p.m. ET 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 Zayas Star Plan
Tonight’s event will be the last for Top Rank with ESPN, as the company ends its broadcast deal. Interestingly, Top Rank has chosen Zayas to headline against Garcia rather than a more proven fighter with a more entertaining, crowd-pleasing style of fighting.
It suggests their desire to catapult the Puerto Rican fighter Zayas into stardom. They want to make him into a mega-star like past fighters from the Island. It’s more problematic because he can’t punch and is a hit-and-run type of fighter.
Carrington’s Featherweight Championship Match
In the chief support fight, Bruce Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) battles for the vacant WBC interim featherweight title against #11-ranked fringe contender Mateus Hiata (14-0, 9 KOs) in a 12-round contest.
The selection of Hiata gives Carrington, 28, a better chance of winning compared to if Top Rank had selected one of the higher-ranked contenders. This is skillful matchmaking on their part, just as they’re doing with their headline fighter, Zayas.
Carrington is a good basic slugger, but he’s already been exposed by Sulaiman Segawa last year. He was fortunate to get the win over the Ugandan-born Segawa. Nevertheless, the fight showed the flaws in Carrington’s game, revealing that he’s not the fighter that fans were led to believe.
Last Updated on 07/27/2025