Xander Zayas dominates with UD victory at MSG

Xander Zayas scored a unanimous decision victory over Alexis Salazar at the Madison Square Garden.

20-year-old junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas (15-0) put on a dominant performance in front of a large crowd mostly filled with his supporters at the Madison Square Garden in NYC. Although there were no knockdowns, Zayas dominated, and the judges saw the same as the scorecards read 80-72, 79-73 & 79-73, all for the young Puerto Rican star over Alexis Salazar (25-5).

In the first round, Zayas was controlling much of the first round, and midway through it, Zayas landed a left hook that sent Salazar backward and was held up by the ropes. The sequence should have been scored as a knockdown, but the referee missed it. In the second, Zayas started to apply a ton of pressure which was smothering Salazar and sucking all of his oxygen. Zayas was cutting off the ring beautifully and making it known who was in charge of the fight.

The third round saw Zayas starting to land that patent left hook to the body as he broke down Salazar. Zayas’ 1-2 combination was landing cleanly in this round, and although Salazar would shake his head as if the punches didn’t faze him, that is usually the sign of the complete opposite.

Xander Zayas’ star continues to rise with UD victory over Alexis Salazar

https://twitter.com/trboxing/status/1601786936439365633?s=20&t=gRSavADPOyrH0KTHrxB8cw

Salazar is a veteran, so in the fourth, the fight started to settle in, and that’s when he began to use more of his Ring IQ to make Zayas think in there. Rounds five through seven were more of Zayas doing some of the same things and Salazar catching him at times with short, quick countershots.

In the last round, both men started to trade in the middle of the ring, which was received with a roar from the crowd. Zayas won by unanimous decision and now will move on to fight in March, followed by a June date on Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend in NYC.