
Nate Pardo-Marrero
2 hrs ago
2 min read
The undercard of the unification clash between Xander Zayas and Abass Baraou has taken a significant blow.
Top Rank announced that an illness has forced Rohan Polanco to withdraw from his bout against Christian Gomez. Polanco-Gomez was scheduled to be the co-main event to Zayas versus Baraou at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan on Saturday on Top Rank Classics.
A six-round junior bantamweight bout between Juanmita Lopez De Jesus and Conner Goade will now serve as the co-main event.
The undercard begins at 5:30 p.m. ET, while the main event is expected to begin at 10 p.m. ET.
Polanco (17-0, 10 KOs), who is The Ring’s No. 5 welterweight, was coming off an impressive 2025 where he went 3-0 and got ranked inside the top 10 by the WBO (No. 6) and IBF (No. 10). The 27-year-old from Los Alcarrizos, Dominican Republic, last fought on July 26, winning a one-sided unanimous decision over Quinton Randall (15-3-1, 3 KOs) in New York.
In his other two bouts, Polanco swept all three scorecards in a unanimous decision over Argentina’s Fabian Maidana (24-4, 18 KOs) and scored a second-round stoppage of Jean Carlos Torres (22-2, 17 KOs).
Gomez (23-6, 21 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, has lost four of his last five fights, including a unanimous decision defeat to The Ring’s No. 6 welterweight Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs).
Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) vs. Baraou (17-1, 9 KOs) is the second unification bout to take place in Puerto Rico. Ivan Calderon and Mexico's Giovani Segura met in the only other unification clash there, with the latter scoring an eighth-round KO against the home fighter in 2010.
Zayas, 23, enters the bout with the WBO title, while Baraou holds the WBA belt.
Zayas, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is fighting for the first time in his hometown and the second time in Puerto Rico. He won the vacant WBO title with a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) on July 26 in Puerto Rico.
Baraou, 31, won the interim WBA title with a unanimous decision win over Yoenis Tellez (11-1, 8 KOs) on Aug. 23 in Orlando. He was elevated to full champion after Terence Crawford vacated the belt on Sept. 13.
The rest of the undercard for Saturday:
- Lightweight, 6 rounds: Carlos De Leon Castro vs. Diuhl Olguin, 6 rounds
- Junior bantamweight, 4 rounds: Yadriel Caban vs. Jeremis Hernandez-Torres
- Middleweight, 10 rounds: Euri Cedeno vs. Etoundi Michel William
- Junior middleweight, 10 rounds: Giovani Santillan vs. Courtney Pennington
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Nate Pardo-Marrero

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