NEW YORK — After stopping a previously unbeaten fighter, Xander Zayas says he’s ready to run into a “Towering Inferno”.
The 22 year old spoke after his ninth-round stoppage of Slawa Spomer at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He says he’s ready to face Sebastian Fundora, the fighter who holds the WBO and WBC junior-middleweight titles.
“I’m number one in the WBO; I’m number three with the WBC; Sebastian Fundora is next,” Zayas, 21-0 (13 KOs), told BoxingScene.
While there are skeptics who think Zayas, who is yet to fight a 12-round fight, is not yet ready for such a significant challenge, Zayas says he has studied the 29 year old from Coachella, California. He believes Fundora’s feet are too slow, and he doesn’t utilize his 6’5” frame well enough to deal with him.
“Hopefully he comes out victorious on March 22 and I feel like he’s the next target,” said the Puerto Rico-born Zayas.”I feel like he’s a great fighter, not taking anything away from him but I feel like I can outbox him.
“People say he’s tall but if we’re being honest he doesn’t like fighting on the outside. He likes fighting on the inside and I’m really good with my distance. I feel like I can outbox him all night long and break him down.”
Fundora, 21-1-1 (13 KOs), first has to get past Chordale Booker, whom he defends his titles against on March 22 in Las Vegas. Fundora will be making the first defense of the titles he won a year earlier when he defeated Tim Tszyu by split decision.
Carl Moretti of Top Rank says that the plan is to enforce a mandatory opportunity against Fundora, though exactly when that fight can be made remains to be figured out. Moretti points out that Top Rank has a date locked in for the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City – which will be Sunday, June 9 – but he thinks that may be too soon of a turnaround for Fundora.
“I don’t know if it’s happening next but that’s the goal, to get to that point,” said Moretti. “He’s gonna be named mandatory so we’ll see.
“But Fundora has a fight on March 22; he shouldn’t have any problems with Booker. Then we’re gonna try and enforce the mandatory.”
Zayas wasn’t sure if he would be ringside for Fundora-Booker, but he’s already thinking of how significant a clash could be with the Mexican-Cuban born champion.
“I feel like definitely it could happen in the big room,” he said about the possibility of them fighting in the main arena of Madison Square Garden, where he has fought twice but is yet to headline.
“Mexico versus Puerto Rico, I feel like it will sell very well. Hopefully in June or some time during that summer. But that’s a fight that will make a lot of sense in the big room.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
Read the full article here
