Xander Zayas will reportedly face unbeaten Slawa Spomer in the chief support bout in a WBO 154-lb title eliminator on the Keyshawn Davis vs. Denys Berinchyk card on Valentine’s Day, February 14th on ESPN at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
A victory for the 22-year-old Puerto Rican-born Xander Zayas would make him mandatory for WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora.
The promoters for Zayas, Top Rank, are angling him to potentially scoop up the WBO belt if it’s vacated or if Fundora loses it in 2025 in his next fight. They’re trying to turn Zayas into a star quickly like they’re doing with Keyshawn. Matching Zayas against a beatable Spomer is one way of making him look great.
Xander Zayas vs. Slawa Spomer
Keith Idec reports that Zayas vs. Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) is being slotted for the chief support bout on the Davis vs. Berinchyk card.
The little-known 32-year-old German Spomer has fought in near obscurity in his native Germany against second-tier opposition throughout his six-year professional career. His opponents have largely been unknown, and why the World Boxing Organization has ranked him at the #11 spot is unclear.
Spomer has an unbeaten record, but his opposition has been too poor to take him seriously in this fight. It’s not that Zayas is a great fighter who would require Spomer to have a lot of experience.
Xander has fought similar cream puffs, but you can give him an excuse due to his age. He’s only 22, and his promoter at Top Rank is trying to turn him into a New York ticket-seller like they were doing with Edgar Berlanga.
Zayas (20-0, 11 KOs) had hoped to fight on the February 22nd card in Riyadh after Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis turned down a fight against WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. However, Israil Madrimov will be Ortiz Jr’s opponent rather than Zayas.
In the main event, #1 WBO-ranked lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (12-0, 8 KOs) will challenge the unbeaten WBO 135-lb champion Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) on the ESPN card.