Zayas, 22, becomes youngest current world champ

Xander Zayas is not the first Puerto Rican boxer to feel right at home in New York, but on Saturday, he set himself apart from all who came before, becoming the youngest current world champion by capturing the vacant WBO junior middleweight title with a slick, dominant decision win over Jorge Garcia Perez at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Fighting at the Garden -- the theater or big arena -- for the eighth time in his career, Zayas (22-0, 13 or 14 KOs) was in control from the opening bell, using elusive footwork and counterpunching to quell the awkward but powerful offense of Garcia Perez. As Zayas picked up on his opponent's timing, he maintained distance -- even when Garcia Lopez, standing in a corner after absorbing a combination, tried to wave Zayas in. When the awkward Garcia Lopez did manage to close the distance, Zayas tied him up.

In the end, all three judges saw the fight Zayas' way (116-112, 118-110, 119-109), handing Garcia Perez (33-4, 26 KOs), a 28-year-old from Mexico, saw an eight-fight winning streak come to an end.

In the final 30 seconds of Round 6, Zayas punctuated an exchange with a right hand that sent Garcia Lopez stumbling backward into the ropes. But the Mexican fighter righted himself and kept coming. And Zayas continued to pick him apart.

Just when Garcia Lopez appeared to be fading, he had a strong eighth round, throwing straighter punches in combinations. But in the ninth, Zayas returned to the role of matador, avoiding damage from the stumbling Garcia Lopez and landing his own combinations. He was in control the rest of the way, landing at a high percentage and making Garcia Lopez miss.

According to CompuBox, Zayas landed 50 more jabs and 19 more power punches than Garcia Lopez despite throwing 81 fewer punches. Garcia connected on 22% of his total punches and 24% of his power punches, while Zayas connected on 38% of his total punches and 45% of his power punches. Zayas also held a 59-31 edge in body shots landed.

When Zayas was asked what the victory meant to him, he began, "Man, since I was 5 years old ... " and then he switched to Spanish for an extended answer, to honor the Puerto Rican fans in attendance.

When Zayas finally switched back to English, he said, "It's amazing. It's amazing to represent Puerto Rico at the highest level and to just put the pride of my island where it belongs -- at the top."

Zayas joins a lineage of fighters with Puerto Rican heritage who have won the junior middleweight world championship, including International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Wilfred Benitez, Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto.

Zayas, who is No. 8 in the ESPN junior middleweight rankings, is 22 years, 324 days old. The next-youngest champ is welterweight Brian Norman Jr. at 24 years, 245 days.

Zayas joins a short list of fighters who have won the junior middleweight championship at 22 or younger. Among them is Fernando Vargas, who won the IBF title in 1998 at age 21. Vargas' 21-year-old son Emilianio fought spectacularly on Saturday's undercard, moving to 15-0 with a 42-second knockout of junior welterweight Alexander Espinosa. It was the 21-year-old's sixth straight knockout, the 13th of his career.

That fight was right before the co-main event, in which Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington won the vacant WBC interim featherweight title with a one-sided decision win over Mateus Heita.

Carrington (16-0, 9 or 10 KOs), who is 28 and from Brooklyn, was a -5000 favorite and it showed. After a relatively competitive back-and-forth for the first three rounds, Carrington picked up the timing of Heita's jabs and began connecting to the body and head with frequent right hand counters.

Heita took several solid punches to the head in the middle rounds and was not even wobbled. But his activity level diminished, and Carrington ramped up his attack, while eluding most of the big punches Heita threw his way. Carrington kept throwing slick combinations until the final bell, and the judges rewarded him with a unanimous decision, with one of them scoring every round his way (120-108, 119-109, 119-109).

The loss was the first of Heita's career, dropping the 27-year-old from Namibia to 14-1 in his first fight outside Africa. Carrington is No. 6 in ESPN's featherweight rankings.

After receiving his interim belt, Carrington turned his focus on WBO champion Rafael Espinosa, who was at ringside. "I see you in the crowd," he said, pointing. "I want you, bro. You already know. My team has called your team. I want to fight."