Six years after signing a promotional deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank, Puerto Rican sensation Xander Zayas finds himself on the precipice of becoming a world champion. With the Puerto Rican legends like Miguel Cotto and Félix Trinidad putting their support behind him, Zayas will attempt to make Puerto Rico proud when he fights Jorge Garcia Perez for the interim WBO Super Welterweight Championship on Saturday, July 26 in New York, New York. While some may feel pressure as they near their first world title fight, Zayas says he feels “prepared” for the opportunity.
“[This fight] has to feel a little bit different,” Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher told Zayas. “You trained for this 12-rounder because you know you want to become a world champion and [the opportunity] is finally within reach.”
“I feel like every camp is completely different and in every camp, we prepare differently,” answered Zayas. “But throughout my whole career, Top Rank and my team have prepared me for this moment. When we’d talk about fighting for a world title, we always said the goal was to [not only fight] for [a world title], but to know that we were ready to fight and win it. This is the moment. It’s fight number twenty-two at MSG and it’s my moment to become a world champion. Just like [Perez] said that he talked to his family and knew that 2025 was his year, I talked to my family and said that 2025 would be my year.”
Zayas will have the opportunity to prove that 2025 is his year on Saturday, July 26, 2025. The Puerto Rican contender will battle the hard-hitting fighter from Mexico in an interim super welterweight title fight on ESPN at 9 p.m. EST.
