ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez reports that super welterweight standouts Xander Zayas and Jorge Garcia Perez will duke it out for the vacant WBO title on July 26th in New York.
Long one of Top Rank’s most prized up-and-comers, the 22-year-old Zayas (21-0, 13 KO) graduated to contender status earlier this year by battering Slawa Spomer into submission. This earned him a mandatory shot at unified champion Sebastian Fundora, who elected to vacate his WBO title shortly before a scheduled purse bid in order to pursue a rematch with Tim Tszyu.
Enter Garcia (33-4, 26 KO), who took home an impressive upset victory over Charles Conwell last month. A hulking volume puncher with solid power and nasty combinations, he makes for a fascinating style matchup with Zayas, whose technical prowess is offset by a seeming lack of finishing ability.
This should be an excellent fight; we’ll let you know as soon as it’s official.
