Xander Zayas has ruled out a fight against WBC interim junior middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his first defense of his WBO 154-lb title.
The Top Rank-promoted Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) reminded fans that Vergil Jr. (23-0, 21 KOs) had once told him not to speak to him about a fight until he became a world champion. Now that the 22-year-old Puerto Rican-born Zayas has captured the vacant WBO 154-lb title, he’s turning the tables on Ortiz Jr, saying not to speak to him until he wins a world title.
Why Avoid Ortiz Jr?
“When we first spoke, he said, ‘Talk to me when you become a champion.’ Well, now I’m a champion. So, I’m going to give the same dime back. Talk to me when he becomes a champion, the 27-year-old prospect that he is,” said WBO junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas to Ring Magazine, talking about WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr.
The Weakest Link?
It sounds childish on Xander’s part to use his past conversation with Ortiz Jr. as justification for not fighting him. If Zayas had a resume that was comparable to Vergil Jr’s, fans wouldn’t view him as purposefully avoiding him. Xander’s resume is thin with no high-level wins during his six-year pro career. Fans on social media view Zayas as the weakest link among the 154-lb champions, and as a guy gifted the WBO belt.
Zayas’ Last Six Opponents
- Jorge Garcia Perez
- Slawa Spomer
- Damian Sosa
- Patrick Teixeira
- Jorge Fortea
- Roberto Valenzuela Jr.
Top Rank maneuvered Xander into fighting for the vacant WBO belt by matching him against little-known Slawa Spomer in a title eliminator earlier this year on February 14, 2025. Zayas scored a ninth-round technical knockout of Spomer to become the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt.
It’s unclear why the WBO sanctioned the Zayas-Spomer fight as a title eliminator, as the 32-year-old Germany-based Spomer had a resume filled with second-tier opposition. There were more proven contenders in the WBO’s top 15 rankings that they could have selected for the title eliminator against Zayas.