Puerto Rican champion seeking second unification fight.
Puerto Rico has a rich boxing history. The small island has seriously punched above its weight class with the fighters it has produced, more than holding its own in a fierce and ongoing domestic rivalry with Mexico to determine the best Spanish-speaking nation to enter into the art of pugilism.
Of course, names like Wilfredo Gomez and Felix Trinidad need no introduction, nor do Miguel Cotto and Héctor Camacho. However, in the present day, who do Peuerto Ricans have to look to with hope of strengthening their fistic reputation?
With Subriel Matías’s recent loss to Dalton Smith and Amanda Serrano probably not going to be around for too much longer, there is one man in particular for P.R. fans to get excited about.
Xander Zayas.
Zayas is already a world champion. In fact, he’s a two-belt world champion. When he beat Jorge Garcia Perez to win the vacant WBO super-welterweight title, he became the youngest active world champion in all of boxing.
But when Abdullah Mason got his hand raised in his WBO lightweight title fight with Sam Noakes, that status changed hands.
But since Zayas’s win over Abass Baraou to win the WBA title this Saturday, he now has a new distinction.
The youngest unified world champion in all of boxing.
This will certainly be harder to beat, as a lot of 23-year-olds are at the very beginning of their careers. And not only is Zayas the youngest two-belt champion currently, but he’s wanting to collect even more belts.
On Saturday, Britain’s Josh Kelly pulled off a shocker when he defeated the feared Bakhram Murtazaliev to become the new IBF super-welterweight titlist, and now Zayas has expressed his desire to stage a three-belt unification with the United Kingdom’s latest champion.
“If Josh Kelly wants to get it on by the summer, I would like to invite him to Puerto Rico or New York”, Zayas said.
Whether events will transpire that way remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that a fight between Josh Kelly (18-1-1, 9 KOs) and Xander Zayas (23-0, 13 KOs) would be a great addition to a stuffed 154-pound division.
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