Patrick Teixeira will remain patient and wait for his promised shot at a promising young star.
It doesn’t mean he has to sit around and grow stale during that time.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Brazil’s Teixeira will take a stay busy fight while awaiting official word for a reschedule date versus Xander Zayas. The former WBO junior middleweight titlist will face Venezuela’s Edisson Saltarin in a scheduled ten-round middleweight contest on March 16 at Clube Cassasp in the Santana district of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The decision to remain active was made by Teixeira’s team after their side was informed of a delay in plans to face Puerto Rico’s Zayas (18-0, 12KOs), who will not be ready to fight until June. The two were previously due to meet on the February 16 O’Shaquie Foster-Abraham Nova ESPN-aired card from Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City.
However, Zayas—a junior middleweight prospect now based in South Florida—was forced to delay the fight. Teixeira did not want to walk away from the opportunity but also wanted to remain active, having not fought since last August.
The bout will mark his third straight in his native Brazil. The 33-year-old southpaw from Sombrio, Santa Catarina, Brazil won his previous two bouts via early knockout, the latest which came in a second-round stoppage of Carlos Rivero last August 27 in Santo Amaro. He’d previously lost three in a row, a streak which began with the end of his WBO 154-pound title reign after a February 2021 points loss to Brian Castano.
Saltarin (17-2, 13KOs) will fight for just the second time outside of Venezuela.
The 21-year-old southpaw from La Guaira by way of Caracas has lost two of his last three bouts, including a fifth-round stoppage to unbeaten Andrei Mikhailovich last April 23 in North Shore, Australia.
With a win in March, Teixeira will be back on track to face Zayas in June, likely on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City. He will represent the first former titlist that Zayas will face in his rising career. Teixeira won the interim WBO junior middleweight title in a November 2019 points victory over Carlos Adames and was upgraded five days later to full title claimant after Jaime Munguia vacated the belt to campaign at middleweight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox