Top Rank's future finally arrives on Saturday — just as the boxing stalwart's platform disappears
Saturday’s night presentation of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN will represent the sport’s final telecast on any linear network in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
It remains to be seen where Top Rank will next land, but the promotional entity will carry a swarm of reigning titlists and talented young fighters to its next destination.
In that regard, this weekend almost feels like a graduation for two of its young stars: Xander Zayas and Bruce Carrington.
Versions of major titles are at stake in each of their fights Saturday.
Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) — a charismatic 22-year-old Boricua based in South Florida — faces Mexico’s Jorge Garcia (33-4, 26 KOs) for the vacant WBO super welterweight title in the main event. Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) returns to his New York roots in a WBC interim featherweight title fight against Namibia’s Mateus Heita (14-0, 9 KOs) in the co-feature. Both bouts will air live on ESPN, beginning at 9 p.m. ET from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The telecast also features red-hot lightweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs), the 21-year-old son of former two-time super welterweight champion Fernando Vargas.
All three fights are examples of the bright future in store for Top Rank, regardless of what work remains in order to land a long-term network or streaming deal. While Vargas is still in the prospect stage, Zayas and Carrington are poised to emerge as major stakeholders in the company.
Zayas was one month shy of his 15th birthday when Top Rank first took its talents to ESPN in 2017. He didn't turn pro for another two years, when — at age 16 — he became the company’s youngest signee in its 50-plus-year history.
“We’ve been wrong on a bunch of guys, and we’ve been right on a bunch as well,” Carl Moretti, vice president of operations for Top Rank previously told Uncrowned of Zayas. “We always saw the potential in Xander — the raw talent, the potential marketability, and he was so mature for such a young kid.
“He was just 16 at the time when he was first on our radar. We had a plan to build him up the right way, it was going to be up to him to prove that he was ready.”
Zayas was truly brought along the conventional route as he’s reached this point.
The early years were limited to where he could fight prior to his 18th birthday. In fact, he celebrated that very occasion in his home state, on a Telemundo show in Kissimmee, Florida, during the heart of the pandemic.
Zayas became a reliable ticket-seller the moment he was positioned to fight not just in front of fans, but in markets where he could energize his base — Central and South Florida, and then onward to New York.
Saturday will mark Zayas’ eighth career fight on MSG grounds, including his fourth in a row.
The run began with his first main event, a 10-round virtual shutout of former WBO 154-pound champion Patrick Teixeira in June 2024 at MSG's The Theater. The show took place on the eve of New York's Puerto Rican Day Parade, Zayas’ second year in a row where he fought on that celebrated weekend.
“This is like my second home,” Zayas told Uncrowned. "It’s a place my team and I enjoy our time there.”
Fittingly, that second home will now host his first major title fight.
Zayas hoped the occasion would have come against Sebastian Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs), who entered 2025 as the unified WBC and WBO 154-pound champ. By late March, Zayas was named the WBO mandatory challenger with whom Fundora was instructed to enter negotiations.
Their ordered fight was scheduled for a May purse bid hearing before Fundora withdrew from the proceedings after being bound to a late-activated rematch clause by Tim Tszyu. He was forced to give up the WBO belt, which left Zayas to instead face the highest-ranked available challenger.
“I was disappointed at first,” admitted Zayas. “Top Rank has always believed in me and I wanted to show that I was ready to become a champion by beating the champ. I was looking forward to fighting Fundora to win two titles, especially on this show.
“All I can focus on is what is happening. I’m fighting for a world title and the chance to show that I am the future of Top Rank Boxing.”
The occasion comes with a familiar face in tow, as Zayas, 22, and Carrington, 28, will share a card for the sixth time.
“I always love sharing the card with Xander,” Carrington told Uncrowned. “We always shut it down out here. We always put on a great performance.
“It’s only right that we’re on this show together, taking that next step in our careers. He’s getting his world title shot, I have the opportunity to guarantee my world title shot.”
Carrington enjoyed a co-starring role in Zayas’ aforementioned headlining debut in June 2024, and the unbeaten Brooklyn native more than did his part to get the crowd hyped.
A sensational eighth-round stoppage of Brayan De Gracia drew rabid cheers from the Boricua-heavy crowd that night among his own local supporters. Affectionately known as “Shu Shu,” the rising featherweight left The Theater with a new nickname from his adoring fans.
“The Puerto Ricans always show me love,” Carrington noted. “I’m from New York, I’m from Brooklyn — it’s only right that we connect like that. I remember last year when I went to Puerto Rico for vacation after my win over Bernardo Torres. The WBO had a nice event in my honor when I won their intercontinental title.
“Then after that, on Puerto Rican Day weekend with Xander in the main event [against Teixeira], I got the knockout. The fans loved it, started chanting ‘Shu-yo Rico!’ I loved it, man. I brought a lot of my fans, and Xander’s fans also showed out and became mine as well. It means a lot that Xander and I get to share this stage again.”
Whereas Zayas turned pro well before he could represent Puerto Rico in the Olympics, Carrington was on that very path for the U.S. In fact, he won out during the Olympic Trials in 2019, the traditional path toward securing a place on amateur boxing’s highest stage during any other time.
However, Carrington had the unfortunate luck of his qualifying tournament getting wiped out due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was snubbed from a rightful spot due to a pre-pandemic rankings system that left him just below Duke Ragan, who went on to capture a silver medal for the U.S. during the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Carrington instead took his talents to the next level and never looked back. His pro debut came on the October 2021 undercard of the epic Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder rubber match in Las Vegas.
It’s been a rapid ascension through the ranks ever since. Carrington entered his first scheduled 10-rounder by his 10th pro fight. It came in a second-round knockout of former title challenger Jason Sanchez on a December 2023 show that also saw Zayas register a knockout win in South Florida.
The mission for Carrington from the moment 2024 flipped into 2025 has been to secure his own first world title fight. He took a step forward with a third-round knockout of Enrique Vivas on a March 29 ESPN show in Las Vegas.
Less time was spent annihilating the normally durable Vivas — who was never stopped in 26 previous bouts — than during his epic post-fight callout of every featherweight titleholder.
“I want all the top champs, you already know,” Carrington said after his stoppage win. “But let me be specific. Nick Ball? I want that [WBA] title. WBC, Stephen Fulton? Yeah, I want that, I want that. Let’s get this work in, I want all that. I’m top five in all the sanctioning bodies. Let’s get this work in, stop ducking.
“You know I’ll chop that tree down, too [referring to 6-foot-tall WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinoza]. I’ve been calling his name out since last year. Stop playing. You got to ask him the question if he wants to fight me. I’ve been saying I want to fight. I’m not ducking nobody, I want this work. Come see me.”
Naturally, none of the sport's featherweight champions has taken him up on that offer, though that could soon change.
A win on Saturday will leave Carrington with the WBC interim 126-pound title, and effectively the mandatory challenger to Fulton’s full WBC title. It comes on a night when his longtime promotional stablemate is now 12 rounds or less from emerging as a major player in the talent-rich super welterweight division.
“Xander is a master of craft, so polished and he’s young,” Carrington said. “Now, he’s fighting for this world title. I’m so excited to see where his career goes. We’re going in the same direction together. It just feels right that it’s happening this way.”
Weirdly, it’s happening on a night that — absent an 11th-hour deal to renew terms — all but guarantees it’s the last time we see either boxer on ESPN, or any other traditional television channel.
However, it only means the beginning of the next chapter for both fighters.
Top Rank continues to regularly conduct business with boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, head of the Riyadh Season group that serves as a major — if not the chief — powerbroker in the sport.
Alalshikh also purchased Ring Magazine last November and continues to recruit fighters both for his shows and as Ring Ambassadors for the publication and its various platforms. Carrington is one of several such ambassadors, as are fellow Top Rank signees Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) and Abdullah Mason (19-0, 17 KOs).
Davis was among the sport’s hottest young rising stars before a personal crash out in June, where he badly missed weight for a planned WBO lightweight title defense in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia.
On the plus side, the event was on course to surpass the gate total from the fantastic turnout from his previous headliner in November. The June incident aside, the 2020 Olympic silver medalist is too talented and otherwise business savvy for that setback to keep him benched for very long.
I’m so excited to see where his career goes. We’re going in the same direction together. It just feels right that it’s happening this way.Bruce Carrington on Xander Zayas
Mason, 21, became the benefactor of Davis’ fallout. He wound up headlining that June 8 card and will now fight for Davis’ old WBO 135-pound title. It will come against England’s Sam Noakes on the stacked Nov. 22 "Ring IV" show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The card also features fellow Top Rank signee Brian Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs), the red-hot 24-year-old knockout artist who is coming off the year’s leading Knockout of the Year candidate. Norman emphatically starched Jin Sasaki in the fifth round in June to defend his WBO welterweight title for the second time. He next risks it against former two-division champ Devin Haney on "Ring IV."
Norman is one of 11 current titleholders either promoted by, or affiliated with through co-promotion or other working arrangements, Top Rank. The list also includes undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), Uncrowned’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter.
Zayas and Mason are both favored to win their respective title fights. Carrington, with a win on Saturday, could see an upgrade to full title status if not a shot for the real thing against the well-credentialed Fulton.
The current state of Top Rank may not resemble the star-heavy roster — Terence Crawford, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Manny Pacquiao, among others — it boasted at the start of its ESPN deal. Time will tell, though, if this current crop will emerge as the sport’s next big thing.
Two such hopefuls plan to graduate from their current stage this weekend and embark on that very journey.
“I’m honored to be in this position, to headline this show and have the chance to play a big role in Top Rank’s next step ahead,” said Zayas. “They have made every right move in my career, and lived up to all the promises made when we signed with them six years ago.
“Now, it’s my turn to live up to my promise and become their next world champion and their next big star.”
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