Puerto Rico has a new boxing star — and his name is Xander Zayas.

Zayas, 22, became the sport’s youngest current male world champion with a unanimous decision (116-112, 118-110, 119-109) victory over Mexico’s Jorge Garcia on Saturday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York to claim the vacant WBO super welterweight world title.

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Zayas’ win over Garcia headlined the final Top Rank boxing telecast on ESPN. News broke earlier this year that the broadcast giant would not be renewing the deal, which began in 2017.

“That jab is the key to everything, and we showed it today,” Zayas said after the fight.

Alongside the jab, Zayas’ brilliant footwork allowed him to control the distance and the tempo of the bout. The Puerto Rican dominated long spells with his frequent, sharp jab. He forced Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) to reset constantly by connecting with his left hand and moving at an angle. Garcia’s slow feet and ring IQ ultimately let him down, as he couldn’t close the gap with regularity, and when he did attempt to let his hands go, the Mexican fell into his punches and lost his stance. This gave Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) ample time to create distance, as Garcia was made to reset every time he missed with a combination.

The majority of Garcia’s attacks were slow and telegraphed, thus he struggled to land clean throughout the contest. Garcia’s best moments came when Zayas held his feet and allowed Garcia to let his hands go at close range — particularly in the final minute of the eighth round. Those moments were few and far between, though, as Zayas’ stamina proved to be terrific, allowing him to move and stay out of harm’s way for 12 rounds.

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“Man, it’s amazing to be here, to represent Puerto Rico at the highest level and to just put the pride of my island where it belongs: At the top,” Zayas said.

In the night’s co-feature, Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) picked up the WBC interim featherweight title with a comfortable unanimous decision win over Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs).

Namibia’s Heita started the contest well but was quickly discouraged by Carrington’s sharp-shooting combinations. As well as landing a significant number of power punches to Heita’s chin, the Brooklyn native had success to his body, connecting consistently downstairs and hurting Heita in the sixth round with a two-piece.

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The contest lulled in the second half, with Heita reluctant to let his hands go and push the pace, allowing Carrington to box behind his jab and set up eye-catching, quick flurries for a comfortable win. “Shu Shu” was playing with his food — Heita was there for the taking in the second half, and Carrington wasn’t prepared to find another gear to force the stoppage. The pro-Carrington crowd even started to voice their frustration at Carrington’s inability to score a finish by booing in the final few rounds.

In the ESPN opener, top prospect Emiliano Vargas (15-0, 13 KOs) made a statement by knocking out Alexander Espinoza (20-4-1, 9 KOs) with a brilliant right-hand pull counter inside 45 seconds of Round 1.

Check out full Zayas vs. Garcia results and highlights below, as well as Uncrowned’s play-by-play of the main card.

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Main card

WBO super welterweight title: Xander Zayas def. Jorge Garcia via unanimous decision (116-112, 118-110, 119-109)

WBC interim featherweight title: Bruce Carrington def. Mateus Heita via unanimous decision (119-109, 119-109, 120-108)

Super lightweight: Emiliano Vargas def. Alexander Espinoza via first-round KO | Watch video

Prelims

Welterweight: Rohan Polanco def. Quinton Randall via unanimous decision (97-93, 100-90, 99-91)

Super flyweight: Juanmita Lopez De Jesus def. Jorge Gonzalez-Sanchez via second-round TKO | Watch video

Featherweight: Yan Santana def. Aaron Alameda via unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 100-90)

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Super flyweight: Steven Navarro def. Cristopher Rios via unanimous decision (77-75, 77-75, 77-75)

Lightweight: Julius Ballo def. Brandan Ayala via unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)