The Hauser Report: Zayas-Garcia, Pacquiao, Usyk, and the NYSAC

The Hauser Report: Zayas-Garcia, Pacquiao, Usyk, and the NYSAC

Top Rank Boxing returned to the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, July 26.

Some of the “B-side” fighters came to win – most notably, Christopher Rios, who turned in a strong performance before falling short by a 77-75 margin on all three scorecards against Steven Navarro (who got hit more than a highly-valued prospect should).

But after the final punches were thrown, the fights had gone largely as planned. The fighters in the red corner entered the ring with a composite record of 88 wins against zero losses and left with an unblemished 96-0 ledger.

Twenty-one-year-old Emiliano Vargas (the son of former 154-pound champion Fernando Vargas) turned in the most eye-catching performance of the evening when he timed a sharp right hand over a sloppy jab and sent Alexander Espinoza plunging to the canvas for a one-punch knockout at 42 seconds of the first round. That raised Vargas’s record to 15-0 with 13 knockouts. Espinoza (now 20-4-1) has lost three of his last five fights and been knocked out three times. That said; Vargas is worth seeing again.

Bruce “ShuShu” Carrington came close to whitewashing Mateus Heita en route to a 120-108, 119-109, 119-109 verdict in the next-to-last fight of the evening. But most of the attention centered on Xander Zayas (now 22-0, 13 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) for the vacant WBO 154-pound title.

Top Rank has been trying to build Zayas as an attraction for years. This was the eighth time he’d fought at Madison Square Garden. Two of those occasions were in conjunction with New York’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. But Xander hasn’t caught on as a gate attraction. He doesn’t have Felix Trinidad’s charisma or Miguel Cotto’s I’m-one-of-you persona. And more importantly, he’s a solid but not elite fighter. Cautious matchmaking has been the foundation stone of his rise through the rankings.

Garcia had earned his place in the bout by virtue of a split-decision win over Charles Conwell three months ago.

Zayas-Garcia was an entertaining fight; fast-paced with spirited action. Each man was willing to let his hands go. But Zayas’s hands were faster. His footwork was superior. And he was the better-schooled fighter. Garcia never stopped trying to win. But at times, he looked befuddled. Xander tired a bit in the late going and went into defensive mode to protect his lead. That enabled Jorge to pick up some points.

Robin Taylor (as too often is the case with her scoring) was wide of the mark with a 119-111 tally in Zayas’s favor. Tony Paolillo 116-112 and Tom Shreck 118-110 sandwiched a more reasonable verdict.

Zayas is young. He’ll be 23 in September. There’s a question as to how much more of an upside he has as a fighter. When he gets his “man strength,” we’ll know the answer.

And a sad note . . .

This was Top Rank’s last fight card under its now-expired contract with ESPN.

Top Rank was founded by Bob Arum in 1973. Six years later, ESPN was born. The network was far from the colossus then that it is now. Lumberjacking and replays of Australian rules football were common programming.

Top Rank Boxing on ESPN debuted on April 10, 1980, and continued for fifteen years. The series established basic cable as a significant new outlet for boxing and guaranteed that fans could watch regularly-scheduled fights on a weekly basis. The Top Rank-ESPN relationship resumed in 2017 and has now – for the time being, at least –  come to an end.

All told, according to statistics compiled by matchmaker Bruce Trampler, Top Rank promoted 941 fight cards that were televised or streamed on ESPN or ESPN+.

Top Rank hopes to conclude deals with one or more platforms to carry its fights in the future. In the short term, it will buy spots on other promoters’ cards to fulfill its contractual obligations to its fighters and look for occasional big scores with entities like Riyadh Season.

Till we meet again.

****

A great champion and a once-great champion were in action on July 19.

First, in London . . . The Brits are wonderful boxing fans, and 80,000 of them packed Wembley Stadium to watch Oleksandr Usyk thoroughly outclass Daniel Dubois.

Usyk gave Dubois a boxing lesson and a punching lesson. He outthought him and outfought him. The end came in round five. Dubois was felled by a chopping right to the temple, rose at the count of eight and, seconds later, was flattened by a straight left. As was the case when Daniel was stopped by Usyk twenty-three months ago, he took his time getting up and rose just after the referee (in this instance, Mike Griffin) reached the count of ten.

Usyk is now once again the “undisputed” heavyweight champion of the world, having regained the belt that the IBF foolishly stripped from him last year.

At the start of the decade, boxing fans were debating whether Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, or Deontay Wilder was the best heavyweight of this era. It’s clear now that the answer is “none of the above.” Usyk has beaten Fury, Joshua, and Dubois twice each. At age thirty-eight, he’s getting old. Let’s hope he knows when to stop fighting.

Later that night in Las Vegas, 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring four years after losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas.

Pacquiao hasn’t won a fight since a split-decision victory over Keith Thurman in 2019. He has scored one knockout (a seventh-round stoppage of Lucas Matthysse seven years ago) in eighteen bouts dating back to 2009.

Manny’s opponent on July 19 – Mario Barrios – was widely regarded as the weakest of the major sanctioning-body 147-pound champions. Barrios had claimed the WBC belt by decision over Ugas in 2023 and retained it by decision over Fabian Andres Maidana (who Top Rank later used as an opponent for Rohan Polanco) and a draw against Abel Ramos (who has won two of six fights dating back five years).

Putting the age difference between the combatants in perspective; Pacquiao had his first professional fight on January 22, 1995. That was four months before Barrios was born.

Barrios was a 5-to-2 betting favorite. Pacquiao (with his receding hairline) looked old before the fight started. But once the bell rang, Manny did what he had to do. He no longer has the handspeed and footspeed to exploit angles as effectively as he once did. And his power has diminished. But he fought aggressively. And Barrios fought a dreadful fight.

Mario looked tentative, one-dimensional, and slow. He seemed unable to pull the trigger and allowed Manny to dictate when and where the fighters engaged. He showed no fire, never pressured his opponent, and had no Plan-B. Pacquiao tired in the late rounds. But even then, Barrios never went all-out for the win.

The judges scored the fight a majority draw. I thought that Pacquiao deserved the nod by a 115-113 margin. And my scorecard might have been generous to Barrios.

As for what comes next; there’s talk of a Pacquiao-Barrios rematch. And whispers of Mayweather-Pacquiao II have been in the air.

Manny would love the latter. But the announced crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night (13,107) was three thousand fans short of a sell-out. It’s unclear how many comps and heavily-discounted tickets were included in that total. And early reports are that the pay-per-view sales were disappointing. It’s unlikely that a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch would generate the funds necessary to meet Floyd’s financial demands. And as much as Mayweather might need money, he’ll be reluctant to risk the “O” on his record against a still-credible Pacquiao.

****

New York State is on the brink of a fiscal crisis. The federal funds needed to sustain critical programs are dwindling. The state’s tax base is on shaky ground. But Governor Kathy Hochul will be running for reelection next year and wants to firm up her political base. That’s the most obvious explanation for her appointment earlier this month (July 2025) of Noah Nicholas Perry as chairperson of the New York State Athletic Commission.

In theory, the NYSAC has five commissioners who are paid on a per diem basis. The exception is, if one of the commissioners is designated as chairperson, he (or she) receives an annual salary. Until this month, the last commissioner to serve as NYSAC chairperson was Tom Hoover (who was paid $101,000 annually and resigned in 2016).

The executive director (currently Matt Delaglio) oversees the day-to-day operation of the commission. The five commissioners are supposed to set policy guidelines and vote on crucial issues. But in reality, the commissioners are largely window dressing. They rarely attend fights (other than glitzy showcase events) and know little about the inner workings of the sport and business of boxing. Governor Hochul has been storing commissioner vacancies for the opportune political moment, keeping two of the five seats vacant for years.

That brings us to Mr. Perry.

Perry, age 74, has a notable political resume. He represented Brooklyn’s 58th assembly district in the New York State legislature from 1993 to 2022 and then served as United States Ambassador to Jamaica. When the Biden Administration came to an end, Perry was out of a job. One person who talked with him after his appointment as NYSAC chairperson says, “I wasn’t surprised by his lack of boxing knowledge because that’s the way the system works. But I don’t see how he can set policy or vote on anything when he doesn’t know what’s going on. And that’s my tax money they’re paying him. Let’s see how often he comes into the office.”

Perry’s $100,000-plus annual salary is a drop in New York State’s $254 billion budget bucket. But it offers a window onto how Kathy Hochul governs.

Two requests to the Department of State (which oversees the NYSAC) for an interview with Perry to discuss his understanding of the position and his vision for the future went unanswered.

Perhaps Perry will be a good chairperson who learns the intricacies of the sport and business of boxing and diligently performs the duties of his office. But the early signs are not good.

Multiple NYSAC personnel say that Perry made an appearance at the July 26 Top Rank card at Madison Square Garden but left after the second undercard fight. If he had stayed for the entire show and interacted with commission personnel at all levels, he might have learned something.

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing – is available at https://www.amazon.com/Most-Honest-Sport-Inside-Boxing/dp/1955836329 

         In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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