The Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico held world championship boxing, and in the main event, Xander Zayas made the first defence of his WBO super welterweight title, and added the WBA crown with a split decision win against Abass Baraou.
Zayas (23-0, KO13) had won the vacant title last July, clearly outscoring Jorge Garcia Perez in New York, while former European champion Baraou (17-2, KO9) had won eight straight contests since a 2020 split decision loss to Jack Culcay in his native Germany, the last a points win over Yoenis Tellez last August that earned him the WBA belt.
Zayas worked well off his jab in the opening round, while also ripping to the body of Baraou, and he switched well from body to head in round two, before the German got a foothold of his own in round three, pushing Zayas’ head back and landing with a nice left hook.
Zayas’ footwork and movement was catching the eye, but Baraou was dangerous, enjoying success in the fifth with several decent shots on the counter.
It was back and forth stuff, with rounds hard to score at times, and Zayas stepped on the gas, taking the first few rounds of the second half with his fluid movement and shots.
Round nine saw Zayas land with several combinations as he cranked up the pressure, but Baraou held firm, although Zayas was now looking like a level above his opponent.
The war continued into the final rounds, and up to the final bell, and the contest went to the cards.
One judge scored 116-112 for Baraou, in what looked like a very contentious card, but was rightly overruled by the remaining judges who tallied the same for Zayas, ensuring he unified the titles.
Remaining undercard
On the undercard, Giovani Santillan (35-1, KO18) took a ten-round points win in his super welterweight meeting with Courtney Pennington (17-12-3, KO7).
Santillan was the victor by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
At middleweight, Euri Cedeno (14-0-1, KO12) won all available sessions against Etoundi Michel William (16-3, KO12) over ten rounds.
In six-round action, Juanma Lopez De Jesus (5-0, KO2) took a dominant points win against Conner Russell Goode (8-5-2, KO7) at super flyweight, and at super featherweight, Carlos Jamil De Leon Castro (7-0, KO6) scored a final-round stoppage in his clash against Diuhl Olguin (17-48-7, KO10).
In the sole four-rounder, Yadriel Caban Gerena (3-0, KO3) won in the opening frame against Jeremis Hernandez-Torres (2-3, KO0).
