Xander Zayas defeated Abass Baraou via split decision to become the youngest active unified champion and the first boxer from Puerto Rico to accomplish the feat.

Zayas defeated Barao via split decision Saturday night in his hometown of San Juan, unifying the WBO/WBA junior middleweight world champion with judges’ scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 112-116.

“I feel great. I’m only 23, I’m the youngest active unified champion. And, I’m just getting started,” Zayas said.

“When I heard the decision, I was a little scared. But to be honest, I feel like I succeeded. I won at least eight or nine rounds. Maybe he won three or four rounds.”

“I hurt my left hand in the ninth round. I jabed a lot and he had a hard head, so I hurt my jab hand. But I figured it out, like all champions do. Like I told you before, champions find a way to win.”

The 23-year-old frequently uses his feet, jabs and landing short combinations during the fight. The game plan had Barao overcommitting himself moving forward, and Zayas responded by quickly countering and finding the center of the rim.

In the fifth, Ballau found some success with a series of right hands and seemed to gain momentum, but Zayas remained calm and continued boxing.

In the ninth, Zayas landed his best shot of the night, a perfect right hand that landed on Barao, who survived but couldn’t win enough rounds according to both judges.

“Congratulations to him. I’m proud of his performance. He did a great job. He beat me fair and square. He deserved it. I will come out stronger,” Ballau said.