Zayas wins WBO junior middleweight title at age 22
Beats Jorge Garcia Perez by unanimous decision
Puerto Rican star fulfills childhood dream at MSG
Xander Zayas’s coronation is complete. The 22-year-old who has long been put forth as Puerto Rico’s next boxing star became the sport’s youngest active world champion on Saturday night, defeating Mexico’s Jorge Garcia Perez by a unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBO junior middleweight title.
The stakes couldn’t have been clearer for Zayas, a prodigy who turned professional at 17 and has since made a measured ascent through the ranks. With the victory before a rollicking crowd of several thousand at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Zayas made good on years of promise while penning another chapter into the storied Puerto Rico–Mexico rivalry.