Xander Zayas and ‘Shu Shu’ Win, but Emiliano Vargas Steals the Show at Madison Square Garden

Top Rank’s 7-year run at ESPN ended tonight with a show in the Theater of Madison Square Garden. In the main event, 22-year-old Xander Zayas, making his fourth straight start in this ring, captured the vacant WBO junior middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Jorge Garcia. The title was declared vacant when Sebastian Fundora bypassed Zayas, his mandatory opponent, for a rematch with Tim Tszyu.

Mexico’s Garcia, 33-4 heading in and riding an 8-fight winning streak, was coming off an upset over previously undefeated, former U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell. He had his moments tonight, but they were few and far between and his offensive output slowed as the bout wore on. The judges had it 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112 for the Boricua who improved to 22-0 (13).

Zayas, who was born in San Juan and has homes in Puerto Rico and South Florida, becomes the youngest active world title-holder. This was also a victory for his trainer Javiel Centeno who has worked with Zayas since Xander was 11 years old.

Co-Feature

The 12-round featherweight co-feature between Brooklyn’s Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and Namibia’s Mateus Heita was a tactical fight. The Namibian lacked good tactics.

Carrington, who improved to 16-0 (9), won every round on one of the scorecards and 11 rounds on the others. The previously undefeated Heita, in his first fight outside the African continent, suffered his first loss after opening his career 14-0.

The bout was framed for the WBC interim featherweight title. The WBC belt-holder is Stephen Fulton but it seems more likely that “Shu Shu” will pursue a match with WBO champion Rafael Espinoza who was in the building.

42-second Knockout !!

Blue-chip junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas, the youngest of the three fighting sons of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas, made quick work of 34-year-old Ecuadorian Alexander Espinoza. A short counter right hand knocked Espinoza into dreamland, ending the match after only 42 seconds.

Outside the ring, Emiliano (15-0, 13 KOs)  is a throwback to 1920s-era film star Ramon Novarro, Hollywood’s first Latin matinee idol. It will be interesting to see how his career unfolds. Poor Espinoza (20-4-1) was making his U.S. debut.

Undercard

The finale of the ESPN+ prelims was a 10-round welterweight snoozer between 26-year-old Dominican Roman Polanco (17-0) and 34-year-old Houston cutie Quinton Randall (15-3-1). The heavily favored Polanco, a former Olympian, won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 97-93.

Super bantamweight Juanmita Lopez-De Jesus, the 19-year-old son of Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez and a second-generation Olympian, scored a second-round stoppage of fellow Puerto Rican Jorge Gonzalez (5-3).  Referee Shada Murdaugh stopped the fight at the 1:14 mark of round two after Lopez (3-0, 2 KOs) hit Gonzalez with a cuffing punch as their feet were tangled. Gonzalez wasn’t hurt, but was knocked down twice on the opening round and Murdaugh’s “premature” stoppage did Gonzalez a favor.

In a monotonous 10-round featherweight go, Yan Santana, a rangy, 25-year-old Dominican, won every round against Mexico’s hard-trying but outclassed Aaron Alameda. Santana improved to 15-0 (12). A former world title challenger whose only previous defeats were to Luis Nery and Angelo Leo, Alameda slumped to 30-3.

In an 8-round contest between SoCal super flyweights, Steven Navarro improved to 7-0 (5) with a hard-earned decision over spunky Christopher Rios (11-3). The scores were 77-75 across the board.

The 21-year-old Navarro, the 2024 TSS Prospect of the Year, didn’t look anything like a top prospect. Rios, who had his first eight fights in Northern Mexico, took the fight to Navarro and the decision could have gone either way. It was the second tough loss for Rios in this ring after losing a majority decision to well-touted Andy Dominguez in June of last year.

Twenty-two-year-old San Diego lightweight Julius “Juju” Ballo, a highly-decorated amateur, won his pro debut with a 4-round shutout over 19-year-old North Carolina prospect Brandan Ayala (2-1).

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE