Madison Square Garden’s Theater crackled with anticipation as Puerto Rico’s unbeaten Xander Zayas and rugged Mexican challenger Jorge “Chino” Garcia stepped through the curtain to settle the question of who would leave with the vacant WBO junior-middleweight crown. From the opening bell it was clear the younger man planned to rely on feet, fast hands and frequent clinches to blunt Garcia’s pressure, while the veteran pressed forward in search of a decisive exchange.
Over twelve rounds the pattern rarely wavered. Zayas sniped with single jabs and quick twos, then wrapped up or slid away before Garcia could set his feet. Body hooks from the Mexican raised murmurs, but each time momentum seemed ready to swing, Zayas closed the distance and waited for referee Eric Dali to separate them. By the late rounds García’s attacks had grown ragged, his head reddened from repeated head-torso feints and counters, and Zayas finished strong enough to convince the judges for scores of 116-112, 115-110 and a surprisingly wide 119-109 that crown him the new WBO champion at 154 pounds.
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Brooklyn’s Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington followed with a master-class display of timing and movement against Namibian puncher Mateus Heita for the interim WBC featherweight strap. Carrington glided around the ring, clipped Heita with short counters and never allowed the visitor to plant his feet, sweeping almost every frame for tallies of 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109.
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Yan Carlos Santana-Guerrero collected the NABO featherweight title by shutting out veteran southpaw Aaron Alameda. A crisp right hand kept Alameda cautious early, and once Santana found the range he mixed in uppercuts and body work that had the Mexican bruised and chasing shadows en route to a trio of 100-90 cards.
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Unbeaten Dominican welterweight Rohan Polanco boxed neatly in circles around durable Quinton Randall. Quick jabs and straight rights piled up points, Randall’s counters rarely catching anything but gloves, and the judges returned scores of 97-93, 99-91 and a lone 100-90.
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Super-fly prospect Steven Navarro kept his perfect record intact with an energetic eight-round victory over resilient Christopher Rios. A clash of heads opened a cut over Navarro’s left eye, yet the Californian adjusted, switched briefly to southpaw and edged a nip-and-tuck final round to prevail on three identical 77-75 scorecards.
Emiliano Vargas needed just forty-two seconds to underline his knockout reputation, timing Alexander Espinosa’s jab with a flush overhand right that left the Nicaraguan on the floor for ten. Earlier, Juanma Lopez De Jesus dropped Jorge González-Sánchez three times in less than two rounds before referee Shada Murdock stepped in, while debuting featherweight Julius “Chu Chu” Ballo started his pro career brightly by out-pointing Brandan Ayala over four.
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Image Credit: Top Rank