(ESPN Press Room) – Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, presented by AutoZone: Zayas vs. Teixeira, will be presented live this Saturday, June 8, at 11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+. The event takes place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y. It marks the 19th anniversary of Top Rank’s parade weekend tradition, which started when Miguel Cotto defended his junior welterweight crown against Muhammad Abdullaev in 2005.
Puerto Rican junior middleweight phenom Xander Zayas will face his stiffest challenge yet as he takes on Brazilian former world champion Patrick Teixeira in a 10-round clash.
Zayas (18-0, 12 KOs) has been on the path to stardom since signing with Top Rank at 16 and debuting as a pro in 2019, capturing his first regional title with a TKO win against Elias Espadas in 2022. This marks the 21-year-old’s first main event and his first fight against a former world champion.
Teixeira (34-4, 25 KOs) stunned the boxing world by upsetting Carlos Adames to capture the interim WBO junior middleweight world title in 2019. The 33-year-old southpaw has won three straight fights by knockout, including a fourth-round TKO against Edisson Saltarin earlier this year.
In the 10-round featherweight co-feature, Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (11-0, 7 KOs), a 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials champion from Brownsville, Brooklyn, will now face Panamanian power puncher Brayan “La Roca” De Gracia (29-3-1, 25 KOs) a 12-year pro who has only been stopped once. De Gracia replaces Jose Enrique Vivas, who was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a delay in obtaining his visa.
Undercard action with some of the East Coast’s top talents begins at 7:40 p.m. ET/ 4:40 p.m. PT exclusively on ESPN+.
Calling the action will be ESPN’s Joe Tessitore, Hall of Famer Timothy Bradley, Jr., Mark Kriegel, and Bernardo Osuna, who was recently inducted into the National Boxing Hall of Fame.
Fight Card
Super Welterweight – Xander Zayas vs. Patrick Teixeira
Featherweight – Bruce Carrington vs. Brayan De Gracia
Super Lightweight – Tiger Johnson vs. Tarik Zaina
Flyweight – Andy Dominguez Velasquez vs. Cristopher Rios
Super Welterweight – Jahi Tucker vs. Quincy LaVallais
Super Featherweight – Ofacio Falcon vs. Antonio Dunton El Jr
Heavyweight – Ali Feliz vs. Lemir Isom-Riley
Women’s Middleweight – Nisa Rodriguez vs. Jordanne Garcia
Watch Top Rank Presents Kickoff to Puerto Rican Day Parade Weekend: Xander Zayas vs. Patrick Teixeira at 11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT on Saturday, June 8, 2024 Live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+
