Opinions & Features
Wise beyond his years, Xander Zayas doesn’t feel the pressure of expectations
LIKE many children, every decision they make and every move they make Xander Zayas in his early years he was guided by necessity, not the luxury of choice. For example, at the age of 11 he moved from Puerto Rico to America, simply because his mother and stepfather wanted to put down roots there.
Then, once he was there, he learned to speak English in six months, because without that ability he would have felt even more alienated and foreign than he already did. Earlier, at the age of just six, he was taken to a boxing gym and learned to box, not because he wanted to, but because his mother, concerned about the bullying he was experiencing, forced him to go down that path, to teach him self-defense.
It was, in fact, the first language, outside of his native tongue, that Zayas learned as a child: the language of self-defense, the language of fighting, and the language of adapting to his environment.
“At first, she just threw me in there to learn something, and honestly, I didn’t want to do that,” said Zayas, who is now 21. “I didn’t want to get hit. I was already getting hit in the street, so why would I want to get hit for fun?
“But that’s how it started, and I remember there was this little girl who was hitting me so demanding, man. In sparring sessions, she was servicing me. It got to the point where I was just mad at myself and I was like, ‘Man, come on! You’ve got to do something about this!’ So I started coming back and I started hitting back, and then I found myself falling in love with it.”
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 15: Xander Zayas lands punches against Roberto Valenzuela Jr. during their NABO/NABF middleweight title fight at the American Bank Center on September 15, 2023 in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Photo by: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Again, Zayas’s mastery of boxing was neither accidental nor even natural, but rather something forced upon him by circumstances. In this case, he was forced to learn and improve due to the humiliation of being picked on by a girl when his mother took him to the gym, in hopes of reducing the humiliation he experienced outside of the gym.
As is often the case, one thing led to another, and by the time Zayas was 11 and living in Sunrise, Florida, he was at least able to take care of himself in a way he hadn’t been able to before he found the boxing gym. That, if nothing else, gave him the confidence he otherwise would have lacked had he made such a massive move at such a youthful, impressionable age.
“It was incredibly demanding at first,” he said, “coming from (San Juan) Puerto Rico and not being able to speak the language; not having any friends; having to start a up-to-date school and find a up-to-date boxing gym. It was really demanding at first, but at 11, you’re like a sponge. You start absorbing everything so quickly. Within six or eight months, I was speaking the language and had a few friends. So it was a lot easier.”
“I didn’t have anywhere else where Spanish was spoken, except my home. Wherever you went, whether it was the supermarket or a restaurant, you had to speak English. There’s no other way. Where I live in the States, there’s not a massive Latino community, and if there is, they still speak English to you because they want you to be better.”
In many ways, this sentiment could describe much of Zayas’s youthful life and the journey he has been on thus far. Ultimately, with every challenge he has faced, he has been bound to find a solution, and in the pursuit of that solution, he has not only added strings to his bow from a practical standpoint, but has also amassed a wisdom that belies his years.
“Being around so many professional fighters from a youthful age definitely helped,” he said, when praised for sounding so mature. “I’ve been sparring with and training around professional fighters since I was 12. I could see it all. And my family raised me that way; to be grounded and balanced. I’ve been around people older than me my whole life, and that taught me how to take care of myself and how to run a business. Do your thing and go away, that’s it. There’s nothing else to do.”
He certainly comes across as the quintessential phenom; or child prodigy. Gifted not only with incredible maturity and impressive poise, Zayas is also a student, both of boxing and life, and has studied others with such a keen eye that it’s no wonder he’s imitated so many mannerisms along the way, whether in speech or in the ring.
“When I was 12 or 13, I really started watching boxing,” he said. “I used to watch the massive fights, but they were usually on too tardy and I had to go to bed. But from about 13, I started watching boxing a lot more. I watched Miguel Cotto, my favorite boxer of all time, and Andre Ward and Manny Pacquiao. Who else? The Klitschko brothers [Vitali and Wladimir]. Vasily Lomachenko. I remember him leaving the Olympics. Sensational.
LAS VEGAS – JULY 26: Miguel Cotto is awarded eight points after being knocked down by Antonio Margarito during their WBA welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 26, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Margarito won via TKO in the 11th round. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“When I started high school, I knew, at 13 or 14, that this was what I wanted to do. One of my teachers came in my first grade—my English teacher—and he said we had to write down our main goal in life and where we all saw ourselves in five years. I wrote that I was going to be a professional boxer, and then we had to throw it out—it was like a game—and someone picked it up and gave it back to me. Less than five years later, I was a professional boxer.”
Of course, the massive goal of any amateur boxer is to appear, and hopefully medal, at the Olympic Games, and in that regard, Zayas was no different. He too wanted to call himself an Olympian and represent his country, but the up-to-date age requirement of 19 unfortunately prevented Zayas from achieving that at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
“It was a huge disappointment for me,” he said. “I think it’s a disappointment for any athlete when you dream of going to the Olympics to represent your country and then you can’t because of some rule or technicality.
“For me, it wasn’t that demanding because it was an age difference and I knew I didn’t want to wait until 2024. I wouldn’t be talking to you if I did. So it wasn’t that demanding for me when I got the chance to turn pro. I knew I didn’t want to wait until 2024, so I took that chance. Then you think about all the athletes who were preparing for the 2020 Games and then the Covid pandemic hit them. They had to start all over again. I bet it was a lot harder for them than it was for me.”
As for Zayas, he’s turned his disappointment at missing out on the Olympics into a kind of motivation; motivation not necessarily to try again, but to do what he’s always wanted to do: turn pro. He did so in 2019, becoming, at 16, the youngest boxer to sign a pro contract with Top Rank in the 53 years since its founding. But he did so only after making sure his mom was OK.
“We sat down as a family and talked about it, and my mom didn’t want me to do it at first,” he said. “She said, ‘Well, you’re not out of school yet. You’re not a grown man, but you’re going to be fighting grown men soon.’ I went back to her and said, ‘Listen, this is what I want to do. This is my life. This is what I want to do.’ She told me, ‘Okay, if you just finish high school, you’ll be fine.’ I started homeschooling myself the same year, the same semester that I turned pro, and I finished high school online, focusing on boxing.”
The nice thing about staying in high school, aside from his studies, was that Zayas could stay grounded, human, and connected, at least for now, with kids his own age. It also meant he could experience the pride of seeing his peers rejoice when he learned he was going to take his boxing journey to the next level when he turned 17.
“I remember I was on a trip and they announced it [Zayas turning pro]” he said. “One of my guys said, ‘Hey, did you really just sign with Top Rank?’ But I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t know it was the day they were going to announce it. So I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ and then he showed it to me and said, ‘Look, it’s here!’ He showed me the story and all of a sudden I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I signed with Top Rank!’ It was amazing. Everyone was really joyful for me. I feel like all my friends from high school were good people, so everyone was genuinely joyful for me.”
Zayas is now 18-0 with 12 knockouts to his name. He will headline his first massive show on June 8 at Madison Square Garden in Novel York City, where he will face former WBO super welterweight champion Patrick Teixeira in a 10-round decider (Zayas won by a wide margin, see below).
(Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
This is undoubtedly the toughest test of Zayas’ career to date, but given the media hype that has surrounded him at every turn and the descriptions of him as a “glimmer of hope for Puerto Rico” and “the next Miguel Cotto,” perhaps such a fight isn’t so premature after all.
While Xander Zayas may be youthful and still learning both his life and his career, there are men—boxers—who hit their fighting prime, so to speak, much earlier than most. In Zayas’ case, his voice deepened faster than his peers. His chest hair didn’t appear until he took off his vest.
“Pressure is always going to follow you, no matter what you do in life,” Zayas said. “As a youthful boxer, I feel like I’m always going to be under pressure. I’ve got the whole country behind me, so there’s always going to be pressure. I just have to stay focused, listen to my team and my family and enjoy what I’m doing; every interview, every training session, every fight.
“I don’t feel pressure, to be forthright. I feel like I’m going in the right direction. The whole team knows the goal and what we want. We’re taking compact steps to get there. I’m not thinking about being “The Next One” or “The Next One.” I just have to be myself. I want to be joyful with what I’m doing, have fun and make my family and team proud. Hopefully I can make everyone who admires me and likes me as a professional fighter proud too.”
You cannot learn how to take a punch. Warriors can be gifted with an iron chin or cursed with a glass chin. Throughout history, many of the greatest fighters of all time have relied on their toughness to overcome adversity and remain at the top of the boxing world.
Viewers were impressed by the speed, IQ and strength of many of the technically best boxers in history, but there was also something to behold when witnessing a punch that should have crushed anyone it hits when thrown so nonchalantly.
Recent history tells us this: viral reactions of disbelief on social media and the reaction to Gennady Golovkin effortlessly passing Canelo Alvarez’s right hand racket. Like everything in boxing, everything has its levels and the ability to make a shot is the same. In contrast, the same punch has previously decimated James Kirkland and Amir Khan in consecutive KOs this year.
With this in mind, I have highlighted 20 standout players who, in my opinion, had the most hard-wearing chins in history. This list requires extensive footage of each fighter, which excludes many old-school brawlers like Harry Greb and Jack Britton, to name a few. These were men who had gone through hundreds of 15- and 20-round bouts without stopping.
In the first part of a three-part series, let’s take a look at the first selection of fighters who were almost impossible to defeat.
20) Canelo Alvarez – a chin that can withstand brutal punishment
As it stands, the Mexican superstar has never been dropped in a career spanning 66 fights and spanning 20 years. While Canelo’s fluid defense and instinctive ability to control shots have allowed him to withstand many of the shots he takes, he still has enough color without even being moved. From what I remember, he was only in trouble twice, briefly by Golovkin in their second fight, and as a teenager he broke down notably against Jose Miguel Cotto, coming back and winning in two fights.
Canelo’s consistent durability is more impressive considering the number of top fighters he has faced in the 154- to 175-pound weight range.
Golovkin and Kovalev are two of the most perilous knockout artists of their generation. Bivol was much bigger, and the likes of Jacobs, Munguia, Kirkland and Cotto had powerful fists.
Munguia gave his all against Canelo, but it wasn’t enough.
(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
19) Chris Eubank – super middleweight king with a granite beard
Eubank, one of Britain’s toughest fighters, was stopped only once in 52 fights by the mighty Carl Thompson, who even stopped future heavyweight champion David Haye. His eccentricity somewhat overshadows the fortitude he possessed, but you only have to watch his fights against legendary fighters such as Steve Collins and Nigel Benn to see that Eubank was extraordinary.
He took Joe Calzaghe to the finish before the Welsh started to have stern hand problems and stopped all but one of their opponents. Eubank’s attack on the highly rated Michael Watson, who had so tragically turned the fight to his advantage, was perhaps the most dramatic display of his toughness.
Steve Collins attacks Chris Eubank during their fight on September 9, 1995 (Holly Stein/ALLSPORT)
18) Julio Cesar Chavez – an iron man, described by Mike Tyson as one of the best of his generation
Chavez never took a step back. In his prime, the highly talented, relentless Mexican was as close to an immovable object as boxing has ever seen. Throughout 13 peak years of unparalleled greatness and dominance in the contemporary era, he remained both undefeated and on his feet before getting his first taste of the canvas against Frankie Randall in his 91st fight.
Like Canelo, Chavez was masterful defensively, but with such an aggressive style, he inevitably absorbed difficult punches. However, against big-name boxers like Edwin Rosario, they only seemed to fuel his vicious intensity after bouncing off his skull.
17) David Tua – The Up-to-date Zealand left hook specialist faced the toughest punches
Considering the era in which Tua fought and his miniature, compact frame, it’s truly astonishing that in his 59-fight career, he only got to the deck once and was never stopped. Some of this may be due to his own bone-crushing power, stopping opponents before they can launch their own bombs.
However, Tua continued to absorb everything that Lennox Lewis threw at him, breaking the world record for most punches thrown in a heavyweight fight against the dangerously explosive Ike Ibeabuchi in a classic! Add in fights against Michael Moorer, John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman, and Tua’s chin rivaled many of the world’s top champions during one of the best eras in the heavyweight division.
David Tua (Al Bello/Allsport)
16) James Toney – Finding the chin of one of the defensive greats was a challenge in itself
James Toney is a freaking talent. A man who loved to fight in close combat and yet was never truly struck unscathed, from middleweight championship honors to heavyweight title fights. This was all down to Toney’s free-flowing defense, which was perfect for piercing, malicious close-up combinations. From clashes with the talented Roy Jones Jr and Michael Nunn to fearsome heavyweights Evander Holyfield, Samuel Peter and John Ruiz, Toney was never stopped in 92 fights.
Even as a shell of his former self, he had enough to avoid the force of punches from the likes of Lucas Browne and Denis Lebedev. Toney recovered from all three knockdowns of his career, which came against Jones Jr., Reggie Johnson and Samuel Peter.
Roy Jones in great shape. Photo: Holly Stein/Allsport
15) George Foreman – This returning king has taken an absurd amount of punches
While George Foreman’s hellacious haymakers cemented their place in boxing history, I always felt they overshadowed the punishment the great man could endure. In 81 fights at the age of 20 and 40 in two careers, probably the two toughest periods in heavyweight history, the great George was stopped only once. The stoppage in his match against Muhammad Ali in the iconic “Rumble in the Jungle” was due to exhaustion rather than impact resistance.
George imitated the Terminator on some occasions, especially in his older years, when he constantly marched through the powerful punches of the likes of Tommy Morrison, Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer. While Ron Lyle was able to temporarily knock down George in the greatest heavyweight fight of the 1970s, Foreman’s extraordinary recovery skills and indomitable will carried him through the unforgettable Yo-Yo fight.
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 15: Heavyweight boxing: George Foreman (right) in action, punching against George Cooney (left) at the Convention Center, Cooney’s last fight as a professional, Atlantic City, NJ, January 15, 1990 (photo : John Iacono/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set number: X39332 TK1)
14) Micky Ward – the timeless “Irish” fighter could never give up on sending shots
Micky Ward epitomizes resilience. Not only because of his fighting style, but also his persistence in overcoming many setbacks before Arturo Gatti starts fighting. Micky had an incredibly grueling 48-fight career before he finally made real money against his biggest rival. During these years of relative obscurity, Ward took part in one of the most brutal fights you could ever want to see, the 2001 Fight of the Year winner against Emmanuel Augustus.
Ward’s unimaginable victory over Alfonso Sanchez came drastically after he suffered such a severe beating that commentators, who later came to worship Micky, heavily criticized him and consistently criticized the continuation of the fight. But it was the three wars with Gatti, considered the most brutal trilogy in boxing history, that cemented Ward’s legacy as one of boxing’s most courageous fighters. In 51 fights, including some of boxing’s fiercest, Ward was stopped only once, on cuts.
Marty Rosengarten
Last weekend we saw three shows headlined by female boxers, something that would have been unheard of just a few years ago. The truth is that few female athletes attract immense crowds these days. For example, last Friday’s Dixon v Harper fight in Sheffield was for the world title but attracted less than 2,000 fans.
On the other hand, there are women who have a fan base that guarantees gigantic events and they pave the way for their lesser-known counterparts. Two of the biggest names in women’s boxing, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, made history as the first women’s fight took place in April 2022 at the legendary Madison Square Garden.
Their long-awaited rematch will be the co-main event alongside Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul on November 15. It hurts to know that these two pioneers will be sharing the stage with something that is ultimately just a gimmick. However, one can only assume that both will earn well and be exposed to a larger audience than ever before. The show will be part of the Most Valued Promotions (MVP) boxing partnership and will stream live worldwide on Netflix.
When a women’s fight is featured on the show, it’s often the funniest fight of the night. This has a lot to do with the structure of women’s fights: 10 rounds of 2 minutes each. This shortened format usually results in fast-paced and action-packed fights. While they may be more fun, some argue that elite women need more time to show their class. 20 minutes is just not enough.
Ultimately, women’s boxing is still a relatively recent sport and it would make sense to see progress in the way women’s fights are formatted. Why not try 10 x 3 minute rounds in championship fights? Amanda Serrano has been vocal about her desire to compete in the same format as her male counterparts, and last October she competed in the first-ever women’s boxing match played in a 12-round, 3-minute format. As a result, Serrano’s WBC title was not at risk as the sanctioning body refused to approve a longer format for women.
Katie Taylor tries to hurt Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said two-minute rounds provide more action and excitement, while longer rounds can lead to dehydration and fatigue. The question must be asked: Are we sure the same applies to our male athletes? The tiny format makes sense to support women’s boxing build an audience. It cannot be denied that the fights of our players in the tiny format have gained recent fans of the women’s game. But isn’t change part of progress?
An extra 10 minutes in the ring means boxers have more time to finish off an injured opponent, they have a greater chance of scoring a knockout, and fighters can execute their game plan. Longer fights would suit more elite fighters like Serrano, Shields, Taylor and Mayer and give them the opportunity to showcase their skills and boxing IQ.
We have seen that women are not afraid to take risks and do everything in their power to make gigantic fights happen, often jumping multiple weight classes to do so. They don’t really have the luxury of sitting back and waiting for recent opportunities to arise. The biggest fights happen when competition is involved. Some are lucky to have these rivals; others are not so lucky.
Claressa Shields is arguably the greatest boxer of all time (two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion and self-proclaimed “GWOAT”), but she lacks a worthy dance partner who can match her skills and personality. This means it probably won’t get the admiration it deserves.
The next program of the season in Riyad will feature women for the first time in history: Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman. While I’m cheerful to see women’s fighting on one of the biggest shows of the year, I wonder why it took so long for women’s fighting to be featured on one of the season’s shows in Riyad?
Raven Chapman. (Photo: James Chance/Getty Images)
Hasn’t the entertainment and quality provided by female athletes over the last few years given them the opportunity to be part of these great spectacles? Is this just a box-ticking exercise? Only time will tell.
We can only hope that over time the divisions will fill up and we will see more fights that will attract the attention of fans. While women’s sport still has a long way to go and patience will be needed to reach its full potential, it is also clear that there is a clear double standard at play here.
Men’s sports are judged by their potential, while women’s sports are judged by where they are today. We must continue to invest time and money in the grassroots roots of women’s boxing and promote representation at the highest level. Ultimately, the progress of women’s boxing reflects the progress of boxing as a whole.
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