Before the result was announced, WBO titleholder Xander Zayas entered the ring to congratulate Abass Baraou on his stunning 12-round decision win over Yoenis Tellez on Aug. 23. Five weeks later, the hard-changing junior middleweight is officially WBA world champion as a byproduct of Terence Crawford's legacy-enhancing pursuit of Canelo Alvarez and dynamics around him have quickly shifted. Barrow has become a hot commodity in a weight division without a bonafide No. 1. This was an unlikely possibility even last summer, when Baraou outpointed Macaulay McGowan to defend his EBU European title in a Bolton hotel integrated within their 28,000-seater football stadium. Yet the 30-year-old Berlin resident, who has trained stateside for two years and is well-connected within boxing circles, reiterates an eagerness not to rest on his laurels as the year steadily draws to a close. It's not in his nature. Yet having won as a plus-600 betting underdog after a 14-month layoff on away soil in Orlando, Florida, against a then-unbeaten Tellez, it's time to capitalise on that newfound momentum. Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) has been open about wanting to round out a memorable year with a title defence in Puerto Rico, after outpointing Jorge Garcia Perez on July 26 for a historic world title win.

That disciplined, one-sided display saw the Florida-based talent become the sport's youngest champion, male or female, in boxing today six weeks shy of his 23rd birthday. WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) opted to face Erickson Lubin in a DAZN headliner on Nov. 8, rather than acquiesce to the new champion's demands for an away title opportunity. Zayas is understood to have personally rejected a potential in-house matchup with longtime welterweight contender Giovani Santillan, who is ranked No. 9 with the WBO and No. 10 with the IBF in a new weight class. "We've sparred many times so I know Xander very well, he and his whole team are good people, said congratulations and then went for a face-off. It'd be a great fight that I'm up for," Baraou told The Ring when asked about their in-ring interaction last month. "After that face-off, we reached out right away to Top Rank. I let my manager, Paul Gibson, do all that stuff until something is serious or finalised, then we talk about it. "Nothing has come back yet, so [to hear] that our fight is going forward for December surprises me, but I'm here for it. If that [speculation] is not serious, I'll move forward because I'm not planning to wait, I'm in this position and want to continue improving myself."