Junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas (20, 12 KOs) will be fighting Slawa Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) in a WBO 154-lb title eliminator match in the co-feature on the February 14th card on ESPN at Madison Square Garden’s Hula Theater in New York City.
Zayas vs. Spomer will be fought on the undercard of WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk’s title defense against Keyshawn Davis, which will be Promoted on ESPN by Top Rank. However, Zayas vs. Spomer isn’t the ideal co-feature fight for this career, as it’s not a great matchup.
Zayas vs. Spomer: A Safe Fight for a Rising Star
It would be more interesting to see Zayas take on someone with some pop in their punches, like Charles Conwell, Tim Tszyu, Erickson Lubin or Bakhram Murtazaliev.
The promoters at Top Rank aren’t crazy. They know Zayas could get exposed by one of those guys, which would mess up his ability to bring in the money from his East Coast fans in New York. As such, Zayas is being groomed exactly the way former Top Rank fighter Edgar Berlanga was before he left the company to sign with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.
Spomer is the type of fighter Zayas has repeatedly been matched against by his promoters during his five-year career.
The Florida resident Zayas, born in Puerto Rico, will be looking to lock himself in as the mandatory challenger to WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora. If Zayas is victorious against the 32-year-old Spomer, he’ll be in position for a big fight.
The worst-case scenario would be the WBO belt being vacated by the winner of the Fundora vs. Errol Spence fight. That would likely result in Zayas being made email champion, and that’s not desirable for him because he won’t get the opportunity to fight in a highly visible clash against Fundora or Spence.
Keith Idec broke the news of the #1 WBO-ranked Zayas, 22, and #11 Spomer being added to the Berinchyk-Keyshawn card on February 14th.
The German fighter, Spomer, has been fighting in his country in Germany against lesser guys. These are his last six opponents:
– Adam Ngange
– Milan Prat
– Felice Moncelli
– Victor Ionascu
– Jose Gregorio Suero
– Javier Francisco Maciel
