Xander Zayas is preparing for an aggressive move from Damian Sosa this Friday night. Sosa, meanwhile, says there’s more to his game.

“I feel like he’s going to come in and be a Mexican warrior. I expect the best Damian Sosa ever. “He prepared for this fight like never before in his life,” Zayas said Wednesday at the final press conference ahead of their fight, which will take place at Madison Square Garden Theater on the undercard of Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer. Their fight will air on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, with coverage starting at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (3:30 a.m. BST).

“He comes to fight. He will throw a lot of punches and put a lot of pressure on me. But I’m ready for it,” Zayas said.

Zayas is a junior middleweight originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico and now lives in Sunrise, Florida. He signed with Top Rank at 16, turned pro shortly after his 17th birthday and is now 19-0 (12 KOs) at age 22. In June he won a wide decision against Patrick Teixeira.

Sosa, a 27-year-old from Tijuana, Mexico, is 25-2 (12 KOs). He lost a unanimous decision to 31-14-4 Ivan Alvarez in April 2023, but has won three straight since then, including a split decision in April over previously undefeated Marques Valle.

“The fight with Xander has been in the works for some time. It was already mentioned to me, but due to a defeat I suffered, this fight was delayed a bit,” said Sosa. “But now (…) the opportunity presents itself again. And now that I’m training with Robert Garcia, it couldn’t have come at a better time in my career.”

The support of trainers like Garcia helped Sosa become a more well-rounded fighter, he said.

“I’m a Mexican fighter and I think that’s how I started my career – as a fighter who throws a lot of punches. But thank God I had the opportunity to work with very good coaches who helped me improve,” said Sosa.

“Xander knows how to adapt. I also know how to adapt and I think that will make this fight very exciting. I’m still making progress and still trying to improve my conditioning, my technique and my strategy. Boxing is not just a sport where you go out and throw punches, and I gradually understood that.”

David Greisman, who has been covering boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 And @UnitedBoxingPod. He is co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book: “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartache of Boxing“, is a