By: Sean Crose
Rising junior middleweight Xander Zayas ground out a game win over the gutsy Patrick Teixeira in a ten round battle at New York’s Hulu Theater on Saturday. The fight was the main event of a Top Rank/ESPN card.
Zayas started fast while Teixeira worked to maintain range and to keep away from Zayas’ power shots. Zayas was able to land with planted feet in the second. Things were interesting in the third as each man tossed stabbing straight shots to his opponent’s midsection. Things had fallen into a pattern in the fourth, with Zayas methodically pushing the action while Teixeira attempted to battle from the outside. It was close, but Zayas was the one controlling the tempo.
By the halfway point of the bout it was clear Zayas was just too strong for his man. Teixeira was game, no doubt, but he simply didn’t have the power to change the course of things with the strategy he was employing. It appeared that Teixeira was being broken down in the sixth. Although Teixeira fired back, Zaya’s shots seemed to be of the crunching variety. Zayas hurt Teixeira in the eighth, to the point where it was worth wondering what Teixeira had left. With that being said, the rugged underdog survived the round.
Zayas continued to pour out punishment in the ninth of what was starting to become a painful fight to watch. Still, Teixeira, blood pouring down his face, kept on fighting. The tenth and final round was much like previous rounds, and after the final bell, there was no surprise when Zayas was handed a UD win from the judges. Still, Zayas fought well and hard against an opponent with no concept of the word “quit.” HIs record improved to 19-0 while Teixeira now holds a record of 34-5.
*Image: Top Rank