Xander Zayas’ vision of his career follows a long arc, but regardless of what has come before and what is due to follow, he knows this:
His moment is now.
Zayas, the undefeated 22-year-old from San Juan, Puerto Rico, will receive his first world title opportunity Saturday at his now-familiar haunting grounds – the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York – against Mexico’s Jorge Garcia Perez.
“I feel like every camp is completely different, and every camp you prepare differently,” Zayas said at Thursday’s final fight-week press conference. “But throughout my whole career, Top Rank and my team have prepared me for this moment. We always said that when we would fight for a world title, we would do it when we were ready to fight for it and win it. And this is the moment: fight No. 22 at MSG. It's my moment to become a world champion.”
Zayas, 21-0 (13 KOs), will face the 28-year-old Perez, 33-4 (26 KOs), in a 12-round bout with an interim junior middleweight title on the line.
With three straight wins at the MSG Theater – including a ninth-round stoppage of Slawa Spomer in February – Zayas could hardly ask for more comfortable circumstances going into Saturday’s bout. And yet, he has gone to great lengths to further optimize his surroundings for his first crack at a title.
“I had my team with me throughout my camp – my nutritionist team, my sparring partners,” Zayas said. “For the first time in my career, I did buy a camp house. So I’ve been enjoying the camp house for the last 10 weeks.”
Garcia describes a similar focus. He has made the slow climb from working club shows in his hometown of Los Mochis, Nogales and Tijuana, and from dropping heartbreaker split decisions to Josue Obando and Abraham Ramirez (and a humbling, wide points loss to Carlos Ocampo), to winning 15 of his past 16 bouts. Garcia’s most recent matchup, against Charles Conwell in April, saw a split decision go his way and boxing’s sometimes-cruel fates finally favor him.
“My family and I all declared that 2025 would be our year, the year we’d fight for and win a world title,” Garcia said. “And now it’s right around the corner. Of course, I still have to get through Xander, but we’re ready. We’ve trained hard for this moment.
“I worked hard for this. I come from the bottom. And I'm happy to be chasing my dream and the most important fight of my life.”
But Garcia isn’t alone in that sentiment.
“Just like he and his family said that 2025 would be their year, I talked with my family and we said that 2025 would be my year,” Zayas said. “So at the end, we have to go in that ring and do our jobs, and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to come out victorious.”
