So it was only fitting that they both weighed under the junior middleweight limit at 153.5 pounds on Friday for their unification clash on Saturday at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan on Top Rank Classics. Zayas enters with the WBO title, while Baraou holds the WBA belt. 

Zayas, 23, will be fighting in his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the first time and second time overall in Puerto Rico. He won the WBO belt with a one-sided unanimous decision over Jorge Garcia (33-5, 28 KOs) on July 26 in New York. 

Baraou, 31, was a heavy underdog before upsetting previously unbeaten Yoenis Tellez (11-1, 8 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim WBA title on Aug. 23 in Orlando. With the fight appearing to still be up for grabs, Baraou left no doubt, as he rocked Tellez before dropping him with 10 seconds left in the fight. 

Baraou was elevated to full champion on Sept. 13 after Terence Crawford vacated the title.

After his win over Tellez, Baraou was congratulated by Zayas in the ring before a staredown in the middle of the ring. Now, they’ll be standing across from each other in the most significant bout of their careers, with the winner becoming a unified champion in one of boxing’s best divisions. 

The entire card, which begins on Top Rank Classics at 6:30 p.m. ET, can be found on a smart TV through The Roku Channel, Tubi, or Vizio. On mobile or desktop, the entire card can be watched at trboxing.co/TopRankClassics. 

The official weights for the entire card: 

Junior middleweights, 12 rounds for WBA/WBO titles Xander Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs), 153.5 pounds, San Juan, Puerto Rico Abass Baraou (17-1, 9 KOs), 153.5 pounds, Aalen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Junior bantamweight, 6 rounds Juanmita Lopez De Jesus (4-0, 2 KOs), 114.8, Caguas, Puerto Rico Conner Goade (8-4-2, 7 KOs), 113.9, Florence, Arizona

Junior lightweight, 6 rounds Carlos De Leon Castro (6-0, 5 KOs), 129.7, Caguas, Puerto Rico Diuhl Olguin (17-47-7, 10 KOs), 129.5, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Junior bantamweight, 4 rounds Yadriel Caban (2-0, 2 KOs), 115, Moca, Puerto Rico Jeremis Hernandez-Torres (2-2), 114.7, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Middleweight, 10 rounds Euri Cedeno (13-0-1, 12 KOs), 159.7, La Romana, Dominican Republic Etoundi Michel William (16-2, 12 KOs), 159.9, Río de Janeiro, Brazil  

Junior middleweight, 10 rounds Giovani Santillan (34-1, 18 KOs), 153.9, San Diego, California,  Courtney Pennington (17-11-3, 7 KOs), 153.5, Brooklyn, New York