Xander Zayas’s coronation is complete. The 22-year-old who has long been put forth as Puerto Rico’s next boxing star became the sport’s youngest active world champion on Saturday night, defeating Mexico’s Jorge García Pérez by a comfortable 12-round unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBO junior middleweight title.
The stakes couldn’t have been clearer for Zayas, a prodigy who turned professional at 17 and has since plotted a measured ascent through the ranks. With the clearcut victory before a rollicking crowd of several thousand at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Zayas made good on years of promise while penning another chapter into the storied Puerto Rico–Mexico rivalry.
