When Sebastian Fundora vacated one of his two junior middleweight world titles in order to make a rematch with Tim Tszyu, that left the WBO belt vacant. On Saturday, the sanctioning body’s top two contenders – Xander Zayas and Jorge Garcia Perez – will fight for their first world title.
Here are the key details:
When is Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez?
The preliminary undercard is scheduled to start at 5:10 p.m. ET (10:10 p.m. BST).
What channel is Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez on?
Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez will headline a three-fight card airing on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.
The preliminary undercard will stream on ESPN+.
Where is Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez?
The fight is taking place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Who is Xander Zayas?
Zayas, 21-0 (13 KOs), is a 22-year-old from Puerto Rico now living in Florida. He’s been with Top Rank since turning pro in 2019, competing as a 17-year-old welterweight on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson’s first world title win.
Zayas has been at 154lbs for nearly four years now and has continued his development. He may still be considered a prospect or a fringe contender in the eyes of some. That’s because his biggest wins to date were wide decisions over former title challenger Patrick Teixeira and the 25-2 Damian Sosa, and February’s ninth-round technical knockout of the 20-0 Slawa Spomer.
But it doesn’t matter what we consider him. What matters is he’s been highly ranked by the sanctioning bodies for some time and now gets to fight for a world title. Beyond that, what matters is how he performs once given this opportunity.
Garcia Perez is a tough out, as shown by his most recent performance (more on that in a moment). We’ve seen young fighters rise to the occasion with early title fights, continue to develop while still a titleholder, and gain confidence and composure once they have that belt around their waist.
The junior middleweight division is deep with talent. It’s not quite sink-or-swim time for Zayas; there’s no need to toss him in with the likes of Sebastian Fundora or Vergil Ortiz so soon. But a win over Perez on Saturday could put Zayas on the path to facing some of the second tier. The WBO’s top 10 is rounded out with Josh Kelly, Erickson Lubin, Serhii Bohachuk, Jesus Ramos, Keith Thurman, Israil Madrimov, Charles Conwell and Adrian Marcelo Sasso.
Some of those names are more likely if his promotional and managerial teams want to take their time. Xayas can get more seasoning before being thrown into the fire.
Enough of those mixed metaphors, however. Let’s talk about Zayas’ opponent.
Who is Jorge Garcia Perez?
Garcia Perez, 33-4 (26 KOs), is a 28-year-old from Mexico who earned this title shot by scoring the biggest win of his career. In April, he defeated the previously unbeaten contender Charles Conwell via split decision.
Garcia Perez seems like one of those fighters who turns pro young (16 years old, in his case) with limited experience and essentially is forced to learn on the job. That means there are early blemishes on his record – a 2018 split decision loss to a 15-19-1 opponent, a 2019 split decision loss to a 14-3 foe – but he continued to develop and improve.
Even the remaining two losses were against better foes: a wide decision to fringe contender Carlos Ocampo in 2020 and a split decision to a then-unbeaten prospect Etoundi Michel William in early 2023.
But now Garcia Perez is on an eight-fight winning streak, including a decision last December over the 20-3 Kudratillo Abdukakhorov and this most recent win over Conwell. He’s only 28 but arrives with 12 years of pro experience and the boost in confidence that comes with taking it to one touted contender.
Can Garcia Perez do it again?
What other fights are on the undercard of Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Perez?
The co-feature bout will see Bruce Carrington, 15-0 (9 KOs), and Mateus Heita, 14-0 (9 KOs), fight for the interim WBC featherweight belt. The primary WBC titleholder is Stephen Fulton, who is expected to journey up to 130lbs to challenge the WBC titleholder there, O’Shaquie Foster, on the undercard of whenever the rematch between Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Lamont Roach Jnr takes place.
And in the opening match on the main broadcast, junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas, 14-0 (12 KOs) – one of the fighting sons of Fernando Vargas – will take on Alexander Espinoza, 20-3-1 (9 KOs).
The rest of the ESPN+ stream features a number of prospects in separate bouts, including welterweight Rohan Polanco, 16-0 (10 KOs); heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov, 15-0 (14 KOs); junior bantamweight Steven Navarro, 6-0 (5 KOs); junior bantamweight Juanma “Juanmita” Lopez De Jesus, 2-0 (1 KO); featherweight Yan Santana, 14-0 (12 KOs); and the pro debut of featherweight Julius Ballo.
Three of those fighters are Olympians: Jalolov won gold at super heavyweight in 2021 and 2024; Polanco participated in the welterweight tournament in the 2021 Games; and Lopez De Jesus, the namesake son of former titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez, lost to the eventual flyweight gold medalist in 2024.
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
