Xander Zayas isn’t a normal 22-year-old.
The unbeaten Puerto Rican star, based out of Florida, sits upright in a hotel room in New York City with a broad smile plastered across his face. Despite being at the start of his 22nd fight week as a professional, Zayas is absorbing the chaos with a fresh appetite and calm. After all, this fight week isn’t like those 21 previous.
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On Saturday night inside New York City’s The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) challenges Mexican Jorge Garcia Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) for the WBO’s vacant world super welterweight title, attempting to become boxing’s youngest active world champion.
Zayas makes a quip about me donning a New York Yankees cap. A day prior, the Yankees’ rivals — the New York Mets — invited Zayas and his team to their home at Citi Field, and as he posed with a Puerto Rican jersey, he looked at home being the center of attention.
“I enjoy every part of fight week,” Zayas says candidly, perhaps convincing himself as much of the answer as me. “It’s easy to stay locked in, as this is my job — it’s a privilege. The last couple of pounds will fall off this week, and once the weigh-in is done, then I can really enjoy myself. I love what I do.”
Zayas’s positivity and upbeat nature elicits an openness to our conversation. It’s a rare thing to witness on fight week. When athletes are prodded, poked and pulled in all manner of directions while simultaneously in a painful calorie deficit, conversation and manners are — understandably — two of the first things to slip through the net. But not with Zayas.
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He uses my name when he answers questions and speaks with the respect and maturity of a man twice his age.
“I feel at home in New York — I guess that adds to my mood during this particular fight week,” he says. “This will be my eighth time fighting inside the Garden and everyone always shows me so much love and respect. It’s a beautiful place and soon becoming my second home.
“The Puerto Rican fan base of course helps. We are a very proud nation and are always true to ourselves. I think that is why we always support each other so strongly. We are hard workers and show dedication in whatever we do.”
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We are speaking just 10 days after Zayas’ countrywoman — and self-described hero — Amanda Serrano sold out Madison Square Garden alongside Katie Taylor. Serrano enjoyed a noisy and passionate majority of the support inside the arena during her loss to the Irish fighter, but Zayas doesn’t assume that following will naturally move his way.
“I can only do what I can do in the ring,” he explained. “I can train hard and be prepared for every fight, but I can’t decide on my supporters what title I am given. But, of course, if the fans want to label me as the next Puerto Rican star to follow, then I would be honored.”
Miguel Cotto, Hector Camacho, Felix “Tito” Trinidad, Wilfredo Gomez and Serrano are just some of the names that Zayas is happy to label as inspirations ahead of his maiden world title challenge this Saturday night, but his grounding has ultimately come from his parents.
“I am always trying to learn — whether that’s from my parents or other pro athletes that have shared experiences,” he says. “But the main thing in life is having that respect for other people. If you want to be respected yourself, then you have to show respect to others, and that’s something I live by. We are all human beings. I am not better or more important than anyone else, so why would I act that way?”
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Since turning professional in 2019, Zayas has built a perfect 21-0 record under the watchful eye of his Top Rank promoters. He was the youngest fighter to sign with Bob Arum’s stable since its 1973 inception, and on Saturday night, all those in the Xander Zayas business are hopeful of finishing this first chapter of his career.
“It’s been very smooth up until now,” he admits. “We’ve taken all the necessary steps to earn this position and have made sure that we are ready when it arrives. And that time is now. When I win on Saturday I think it’s going to take a while to sink in — right now, I am just trying to treat this like any other fight.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t start thinking about what a world championship win would mean to me. It would be the start of a new chapter — the era of Xander Zayas as a world champion. But that won’t stop the hunger inside of me.
Xander Zayas beat Slawa Spomer at The Theater at Madison Square Garden this past February in New York City.
(Al Bello via Getty Images)
“I share a saying with my Dad. He’ll tell me ‘the world is yours,’ and I’ll reply with ‘the world is ours.’ In this fight, it’s our for the taking. Our family unit is so strong that Perez doesn’t just have to beat me, he has to beat the whole team. That’s what makes us so strong. Everyone in the team has a specific job and they all do it to an extremely high level. So when I step into that ring, I know that I never have to do it alone. And that’s powerful.”
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Perez is six years the senior of Zayas and has been raised as a Mexican fighter in the traditional school of hard knocks. A career-best split-decision win over the highly-rated Charles Conwell in April delivered this opportunity for “Chino,” and it also represents the latest chapter in the long-standing rivalry between Puerto Rican and Mexican fighters.
“It’s always going to be fireworks when we [Puerto Ricans and Mexicans] fight,” Zayas says. “So don’t expect this one to be any different. I am going out there to enjoy myself, but of course we have a strict game plan that we are looking to execute.
“Perez has shown himself as a good fighter, especially against Conwell. He has a good body attack, can be a dangerous pressure fighter and is lanky, but I believe that I am better than him in every aspect of the sport.
“Speed, power, combination punching, hand movement, foot movement, counter punching — I am superior in all these fields. He’s a Mexican warrior so it’s not going to be easy to make him quit, but I am going out there to prove why I am on a different level to everyone else at 154 pounds.”
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The fire alarm in Zayas’ hotel room goes off as our conversation is partially interrupted, but he remains composed and unflappable. For him, the timing is perfect. An attempt to goad him into conversations about future fights in the division is muffled, and can wait, for now.
Asked whether it means more if he were to become the youngest active male champion in the world at age 22, he shrugs his shoulders — it’s as if he has matured so quickly that age is all but a number.
“It really doesn’t matter what people think of me or say about me,” he concludes. “I have one job to do and, so far, I am doing it perfectly. Saturday night is just another opportunity for me to do so, and if I am successful then I’ll be even hungry for more.”
