By: Sean Crose
Rising middleweight Xander Zayas earned a victory over the fearless Patrick Teixeira in a ten-round fight at the Hulu Theater in New York on Saturday. The fight is the main event of the Top Rank/ESPN card.
Zayas started fast while Teixeira tried to maintain range and avoid Zayas’ powerful shots. Zayas was able to land solid feet in the second. Things got interesting in the third round when each man landed jabs straight into their opponent’s midsection. Things followed a pattern in the fourth, with Zayas methodically pushing the action while Teixeira tried to fight from the outside. It was close, but Zayas controlled the tempo.
Halfway through the match, it became clear that Zayas was too strong for his men. There’s no doubt that Teixeira is very good, but he simply doesn’t have the power to turn things around with the strategy he’s using. It looked like Teixeira was broken in the sixth. Even though Teixeira returned fire, Zaya’s shots seemed brittle. Zayas hurt Teixeira in round eight, to the point where one wondered what Teixeira had left. With that said, the underdog certainly survived the round.
Zayas continued to dish out punishment in the ninth of what was starting to become a painful fight to watch. However, Teixeira, blood streaming down his face, continued to fight. The 10th and final round played out much like the previous rounds, and after the final bell, it was no surprise that Zayas was awarded the victory by the judges to UD. However, Zayas fought well and hard against an opponent who had no concept of the word “give up”. HI’s record improved to 19-0 while Teixeira now holds a 34-5 record.
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