Saturday evening’s combat on ESPN didn’t stay as much as expectations, with Xander Zayas (19-0, 12 KOs) profitable a ten-round unanimous determination over former junior middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira (34-5, 25 KOs) in a lackluster contest at Madison Sq. Backyard.
The 21-year-old Zayas, promoted by Prime Rank, got here out on prime in all three of the judges’ scorecards, with 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91. Prime Rank has received their work reduce out for them in the event that they wish to flip Zayas right into a star nationwide within the U.S. reasonably than simply in a small a part of New York.
As we noticed tonight, Zayas’ preventing model is simply too saftey-rist for him to develop into a star exterior of sections of NYC.
A Struggle Marred by Warning and Lack of Motion
Zayas put the stress on the stork-like Teixeira all through the combat, touchdown pictures and guaranteeing that he didn’t get hit in return. Xander’s give attention to not getting hit by way of the primary seven rounds made the the combat unwatchable as a result of the 33-year-old Teixeira was barely throwing any punches.
In opposition to that sort of fighter, Zayas ought to have been throughout him, throwing punches together kind, however he was frightened. Zayas let his arms go within the ninth, attempting to attain a knockout, however Teixeira managed to outlive the ultimate two rounds to complete the combat on his toes.
The combat was sluggish initially with each fighters displaying warning. Zayas, 21, was surprisingly hesitant to go after Teixeira and regarded frightened in regards to the southpaw Brazilian’s energy after getting hit a couple of instances.
With each guys being hesitant to combine it, there was no motion to talk of for the primary seven rounds. The group was there to see Zayas, however they’d nothing to cheer. It could have been fascinating to listen to their ideas as a result of they needed to be pondering, ‘This isn’t what we thought he was.’
Zayas did get his offensive in gear within the ninth to use some stress on Teixeira, however he lacked the facility or the braveness to place it on the bleeding fighter to attain the knockout. If Zayas had gone all out, he most likely would have gotten the knockout, however the bravery wasn’t there to allow him to do this. Zayas doesn’t wish to get hit, and there’s no revelation as a result of we’d seen this in his previous couple of fights.
Zayas’ Efficiency Leaves Followers Disillusioned
The professional-Zayas crowd was quiet by the midpoint of the competition, and so they regarded bored by his efficiency. Although Zayas gained the combat by extensive scores, his failure to knock out a fighter who was barely throwing any punches left the followers upset.
With a crowd that measurement, Zayas ought to have gone all out to attempt to get the knockout reasonably than placing in a token effort.
On the optimistic aspect, Zayas confirmed off his technical expertise and his excellent protection, however followers don’t come to see fighters not get hit. They wish to see knockouts, not somebody who’s dodging punches and stepping again each time he’s attacked the way in which Zayas was doing.
