Xander Zayas looks at his best yet as a pro dismantling Damian Sosa

A smile appeared across Xander Zayas’ face toward the end of the seventh round during his 10-round junior middleweight bout against Damian Sosa on Friday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Xander Zayas systematically defeated Damian Sosa in a 10-round unanimous decision (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank)

Zayas knew what he was doing and he did it well, going to the body and breaking Sosa on the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan undercard.

In his best performance as a professional to date, Zayas (20-0, 13 knockouts) scored the best win of his career, with a unanimous 10-round decision over Sosa (25-3, 12 KOs).

Zayas won with 100-90 shutout scores from all three judges.

Zayas established his jab early and mixed his planes well from head to body. He gradually worked his way from a steady jab to working in combinations and showed great patience in systematically breaking down Sosa.

He was responsible defensively, weaving under and around Sosa attacks. He did everything but stop the gruff Sosa.

The hitting stats prove Zayas’ dominance. He landed 148 of 336 total punches thrown (44%), including 74 physical contacts, while Sosa’s meager 42 total contacts of 272 punches thrown (15%), landing only two physical contacts.

Zayas scored in double figures in every round. His lowest performance came in the first round when he scored 14 punches. Otherwise it was a full attack on the veteran Sosa.

Entering the fight, Sosa was averaging 84 punches per round.

Zayas’ defense and constant pressure exposed a very aggressive fighter and constantly forced Sosa on the defensive. He averaged nearly 30 fewer punches per round than usual.

“I just told (Sosa) that he pushed me and took me to the next level,” Zayas said. “Now I feel ready (for a title fight). Before, I felt like I was ready. Now I’m letting everyone know that I’m ready for some names.

“They said (Sosa) threw 84 punches per round. I didn’t see that today. I did my job. Now I have to be calm and relaxed and see what the company wants. I want whoever is in the top five.”

The 22-year-old Zayas fought off his back foot from the start and used his strike to create space. The 27-year-old Sosa was unable to launch an offensive as he was supported by the faster, younger opponent.

Zayas controlled the range and distance. Sosa allowed Zayas to plant his feet and land combinations. In the third round, Sosa felt that he was quickly losing ground and tried to move forward. His aggression was met with a left hook from Zayas. In the first minute of the third round, Zayas changed levels and landed a left punch to the body and head.

Sosa found that once he got close to Zayas’ strike zone, he would pay a price.

By the fifth minute, the fight had developed into a pattern that Sosa was unable to break. Zayas behaved well, staying comfortably in the pocket, ducking Sosa’s offer and countering with left hooks and uppercuts.

In the final rounds, Zayas dished out more of it.

The young Puetro Rican says now is the time to take the title.

Maybe he’s right.