Xander Zayas Calls Top Junior Middleweight Fighters After Teixeira's Defeat

Xander Zayas says he's ready for Vergil Ortiz Jr. following his ten round unanimous decision victory over Patrick Teixeira on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Zayas (19-0, 12 KOs) didn't show the kind of power or aggression against former junior middleweight champion Teixeira (35-4, 25 KOs) that suggests he will be successful in a fight against Vergil Ortiz (21-) 0, 21 KOs.

Besides Vergil Ortiz, Zayas says he is ready to fight Terence Crawford, Sebastian Fundora, or Tim Tszyu. His top-level promoters probably won't put him among those heroes.

“The Teofimo Model”

Top Rank will probably skilfully navigate Xander Zayas' career, keeping him away from the aforementioned dangerous guys and focusing on weaker opposition, as we saw tonight against Teixeira, who has a 3-3 record in his last six fights. T

Top Rank needs to keep the 21-year-old Zyas away from those top 154 ​​fighters and wait for some of them to retire or age. If one of the belts is available to a weaker opponent, Top Rank should put Zayas up to fight for that title.

And then if he wins, he can milk the way Teofimo Lopez did at 140 for the WBO belt against weaker opponents like him. They will have Zayas follow the Teofimo model, fighting fringe-level opposition.

The 21-year-old Zayas defeated Teixeira by scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91.

“I did it amazingly against the former world champion and I showed that he can't keep up with me. Now I'm ready for the big names,” said Zayas, lamenting his victory over Teixeira, who had lost three of his six fights before Saturday's match.

Zayas Relies on Power Against High Competition

“Soon they will have a world champion at 154 pounds,” said Xander Zayas to the media on Saturday night following his victory over Patrick Teixeira at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I feel good. I showed you today,” said Zayas when asked if he is ready to fight Vergil Ortiz, Tim Tszyu, Sebastian Fundora and Terence Crawford. “Before you go 12, you have to go 10.

“There are many big names in the division. Fundora, Vergil Ortiz. Whoever they give me next, I will be ready,” said Zayas.

Unfortunately, the problem is that Zayas is a boring defensive fighter with little power and a safety-first mindset.

Like Shakur, Zayas goes out of his way to not get hit, and he's boring to watch, and that style won't work against big hitters at 154. Zayas will fail spectacularly against this list of killers at 154:

– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Terence Crawford
– Errol Spence Jr.
– Tim Tszyu
– Sebastian Fundora