Xander Zayas’ victory June 10 was a microcosm of the developmental phase of his career.
There was an immediate moment of brilliance, a knockdown of Ronald Cruz just 27 seconds into their eight-round bout. Then, well aware that Cruz wasn’t badly hurt, the undefeated junior middleweight displayed patience as he methodically outpointed a durable opponent who hasn’t been knocked out.
Matchmakers for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. have taken a comparable approach to building the 21-year-old Zayas into a legitimate contender in the 154-pound division. The popular Puerto Rican prospect is undefeated (16-0, 10 KOs) and already ranked fourth by the WBO, but he hasn’t taken on a proven contender or former champion during the first four years of his professional career.
Zayas believes that beating Roberto Valenzuela Jr. impressively Friday night will show that the Sunrise, Florida resident is ready for those types of opponents in his last fight of 2023, which tentatively is scheduled for December 9, and throughout 2024. Mexico’s Valenzuela is 2-2 in his past four fights, but 95 percent of his wins have come by knockout (21-4, 20 KOs) and he dropped undefeated contender Souleymane Cissoko (16-0, 9 KOs) in the fourth round of a 10-rounder Valenzuela lost by unanimous decision in March 2022.
“The guys he has lost to are good guys,” Zayas told BoxingScene.com. “[Alexis] Rocha, just to name one. Beating a guy like this shows the division that I’m up there with the level of opposition that they’ve been fighting, and that I’m knocking on the door to start fighting top 10 guys and those contenders and former world champions. That’s what we want and that’s what I wanna show in this fight, that I’m on that level.”
Valenzuela, 24, was shut out on all three scorecards two fights ago in an eight-round, unanimous-decision defeat to unbeaten Russian contender Bakhram Murtazaliev (21-0, 15 KOs). Zayas realizes, though, that the motivated Valenzuela will be dangerous during a 10-round encounter ESPN will televise as part of a three-bout broadcast from American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“I feel like he’s gonna try to put pressure, try to throw bombs, like he always does,” Zayas said. “I mean, 21 [wins], 20 by knockout. On paper, the guy can punch. Obviously, we’ve gotta be [mindful] of that and just follow the game plan. I feel like I’m gonna break him down little by little. I don’t feel like he has a better IQ. I don’t feel he has a better boxing style. And overall, the only thing I see him bringing is just pressure. So, just picking my spots, knowing when to fight, knowing when to box, I feel like that’s gonna be the key to victory.”
The first scheduled 10-rounder of Zayas’ career will air before a 12-round main event in which Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez (28-2, 16 KOs) will defend his IBF featherweight title against Joet Gonzalez (26-3, 15 KOs), of Glendora, California. The telecast, set to start at 10 p.m. EDT, will also include a six-round lightweight bout between Las Vegas’ Emiliano Vargas (6-0, 5 KOs), a son of former junior middleweight champ Fernando Vargas, and Spain’s Alejandro Guardado (5-0, 1 KO).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.