21-year-old Xander Zayas was victorious in his first ESPN main event, outclassing former champion Patrick Teixeira in 10 rounds.
Zayas (18-0, 12 KO) looked ready to end the fight quickly, knocking Teixeira’s (34-5, 25 KO) head back with most of his shots and complementing them with mighty punches to the body. Teixeira, who had not weighed below the middleweight limit for over three years, simply seemed awkward and powerless. He hit less than 10% of his power shots early on, eating most of what Zayas sent him.
Yet somehow Teixeira just stuck around. Zayas was correct, continued to target the body and landed an impressive number of power shots round after round. He just couldn’t get rid of Teixeira; he was pretty close in the last few rounds, but each time Teixeira landed enough shots and moved well enough to survive.
Zayas walked away with two stoppages and a score of 99-91 on the cards. On paper it was a very mighty performance. He just seemed to lack that extra gear, that ferocity and true power he needed to stand out in an increasingly heated division.
He then drafted Erickson Lubin, Josh Kelly and recently signed Vito Mielnicki Jr. I’m not sure he’ll be getting any of them anytime soon; Promoter conflicts will keep the first two and I don’t think Top Rank will refund Mielnicki so quickly.
Carrington spoils De Gracia’s play
Top-flight darling Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington once again proved he is one of the top featherweight contenders in the fight, stopping the very gutsy Brayan De Gracia.
De Gracia (29-4-1, 25 KO) officially took up this fight a few days in advance after Jose Enrique Vivas had visa problems, but commentators claim that he had been preparing for it for several weeks. He certainly looked ready in the first few rounds to, if not win them, then at least get Carrington’s (12-0, 8 KO) attention with his constant pressure and solid shots in the pocket.
But it didn’t take Carrington long to solve the mystery. Fighting from a tight arm throw, Carrington punished De Gracia’s attacks with piercing left hands and consistently avoided De Gracia’s shots in the pocket while also landing ponderous punches of his own. While De Gracia continued to attack, Carrington had more and more success until he finally knocked him down in the fifth with a shot just behind the ear.
De Gracia got back on his feet and, to Carrington’s credit, didn’t keep the lead. As De Gracia’s performance declined, Carrington became more comfortable sitting on ponderous punches, and solid body work in the seventh set lowered De Gracia’s guard enough for Carrington to hit him with a pair of vicious rights that forced De Gracia to hang on from the ropes.
De Gracia again broke the counter and continued his good form in the eighth period, but Carrington was in full gear, marching behind him with his hands down, dodging everything that got in his way, and tattooing De Gracia with powerful shots until a long burst in the final seconds forced the referee to act.
Overall a very good performance from Carrington. Granted, it was a match against someone he was supposed to beat, but he showed impressive timing, accuracy and killer instinct en route to the brutal finish. That said, his subsequent calls to nearby Naoya Inoue were more than a little premature.
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