Notebook: Zayas set to face Garcia for vacant WBO 154 title July 26
Interim 126 title bout for Carrington on card; Shigeoka improving; Takei easily keeps title; Nunez wins vacant belt; King wins Pulev-Hunter purse bid but there's trouble; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Xander Zayas and Jorge Garcia will fight for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title on July 26 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, Top Rank announced on Thursday, confirming a previous Fight Freaks Unite report.
They will square off the for the 154-pound title stripped from Sebastian Fundora, who still holds the WBC belt, for failing to comply with a mandatory order to face Zayas next.
The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET), which will also include featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington against Mateus Heita for the vacant WBC interim title in the co-feature, is due to be the final event of the Top Rank-ESPN partnership that began in July 2017.
Unless there is a last-minute deal, the contract expires July 31. By all accounts, Top Rank continues hunting for a new a home for its events but has so far not made a deal with anyone.