Teenage Puerto Rican national standout, Xander Zayas (1-0, 1 KO) made his professional debut on Saturday, October 26, 2019, against 31-year-old undefeated opponent Genesis Wynn, live on ESPN+ from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
The bout took place on the undercard of the Top Rank boxing card, headlined by Shakur Stevenson and Joet Gonzalez’s clash for the vacant WBO Featherweight world title.
The 17-year-old high school student and brand new Top Rank signee is a highly-touted prospect and 11 time national champion. He began boxing as a five year old to avoid being bullied and upon moving from Puerto Rico to Florida he continued to blossom into a blue chip amateur.
Due to age restrictions he was unable to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo games and elected to go pro instead, signing a historic contact with Bob Arum‘s Top Rank.
Zayas made quick work of his undefeated opponent, dropping him twice en route to a first-round stoppage. Zayas showed poise and a skill set beyond his years, calmly beginning the fight on his toes landing a short, glancing hook seconds into the bout while feinting and pumping the jab to the head and body.
The gap in experience and pedigree was obvious early on as Zayas bounced in and out of range as he touched his opponent to set his range, dropping Wynn with a picture perfect straight right about a minute into the first round.
Zayas went right back to work on his opponent when he rose from the count, landing another flush right that looped around the high guard and a right to the body of Wynn, sending him to the canvas for the second time as referee Jay Nady called a halt to the contest about halfway through the round.
