Add Xander Zayas, Bruce Carrington to Top Rank’s Trophy Case

You can add the names of junior middleweight Xander Zayas and featherweight Bruce Carrington to the endless list of world champions under the Top Rank banner.

Top Rank Boxing was live from the world’s most famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, on Saturday night. 

It was a stacked card that featured boxing’s most powerful promotional firm on the last event of their long ESPN deal, with red-hot Puerto Rican star Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) in the main event as he looked to capture his first world title at the age of 22. 

Zayas was taking on Mexican banger Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) for the vacant WBO junior middleweight world championship.

In the co-feature, it was Brooklyn native Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs, ranked No. 1 by the WBC, and WBO, No. 2 by the WBA, and No. 4 by the IBF) up against unbeaten Namibian Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs) for the WBC interim featherweight world title.

The main broadcast opener saw Mexican/American prospect, and potential boxing superstar, Emiliano Fernando Vargas (15-0, 13 KOs) against Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza in a 140-pound clash.

Other fighters of note on the card were Puerto Rican star Juanmita Lopez De Jesus, son of former world champion Juan Manuel Lopez, and the pro debut of amateur sensation Julius ‘JuJu’ Ballo.

Before the fights, the main event players were confident of success and looked to leave Gotham City with a world title in their possession.

​​“This is a dream I’ve worked hard for my entire life”, said Zayas, Top Rank’s youngest signing at 16 years old. “But I’m ready to raise the Puerto Rican flag high in victory and become a world champion”.

But Garcia, the other player in the main event, the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry, had other ideas. 

“Becoming a world champion is my dream, and I’m ready to make it come true with a dominant win over Xander Zayas. Mexico will have a new champion”, he said.

Main Event -

Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) outboxed Jorge “Chino” Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) to capture the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. Garcia showed nuts and guts and had a few moments, but Zayas was one step ahead all night.  Speed, angles and a better work rate allowed Zayas to pick up the win over a game Garcia.

After the fight, Zayas said, “This is a dream come true, this is amazing. I could never dream of anything better than this”. 

Semi-Main -

New York’s own, Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) scored a UD 12 over WBC #11 Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs) to grab the vacant WBC interim world title. Carrington was in control in a workman-like fight.  Scores were 119-109, 119-109, 120-108.

After the fight, Carrington was calling out the other players at 126 pounds. 

“I’m ready, I’ve been calling out the champions”, he said. “I see Espinoza in the crowd, I want to fight him, I want to fight Nick Ball, I want Steven Fulton”.

Rising junior welterweight superstar, Emiliano Vargas (15-0, 13 KOs) drilled Alexander Espinoza (20-4-1, 9 KOs) in the 1st round. Vargas impresses every time out.

After the fight, he paid homage to his father and trainer, Fernando Vargas.

“I’m just a Mexican kid trying to make it to the top”, he said. “If I can be half as great as my father was, I’ll be great”, he said.

Undercard

Welterweight - Rohan Polanco UD 10 Quinton Randall 

Junior Bantamweight - Juanmita Lopez De Jesus KO 1 Jorge Gonzalez-Sanchez 

Featherweight -UD 10 Yan Santana vs. Aaron Alameda 

Junior Bantamweight - Steven Navarro W UD 8 Cristopher Rios  

Featherweight - Julius Ballo UD 4 Brandan Ayala