Yoenis Tellez learned the hard way about Abass Baraou what Xander Zayas very well knew prior to their fight August 23.

Zayas sensed immediately from his ringside seat that Tellez underestimated Baraou before they fought for the WBA interim super welterweight title in Orlando, Florida. Zayas, who won the WBO junior middleweight championship four weeks earlier, and Baraou sparred approximately 80 rounds with each other in South Florida, thus Zayas realized Baraou was more than capable of upsetting the unbeaten Cuban.

The highly touted Tellez closed as a 6-1 favorite, but Baraou beat him by unanimous decision and rejuvenated what was once a stalled career. Zayas obviously hasn’t made the same mistake he feels Tellez committed in preparing for his 12-round, 154-pound title unification fight with Baraou on January 31 at Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I feel like Tellez overlooked him,” Zayas told The Ring. “Tellez, he was already thinking about what was next after Abass, and not what was in front of him. So, I feel like Tellez underestimated him and wasn’t ready mentally in that fight, which tends to happen with a lot of guys.

“You know, they get some type of fame, money, some type of accomplishment, and they get comfortable. I feel like he got comfortable, he overlooked Abass, thought that it was gonna be another opponent before the big fights and the big money would come, and he had to take a step back. That’s what boxing does to you.”

Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) informed his promoter, Bob Arum, soon thereafter that he wanted a title unification fight with Baraou next. Germany’s Baraou (17-1, 9 KOs), who has lost only a split decision to countryman Jack Culcay in August 2020, was elevated from interim champ to full champ once Terence Crawford gave up a WBA belt he won from Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov a year earlier.

Puerto Rico’s Zayas is The Ring’s fifth-ranked contender for a vacant championship, three spots above Baraou.

Zayas, 23, and Baraou, 31, talked about eventually fighting for world titles when they spent time together at the gym where Zayas trains in Davie, Florida. That’s why Zayas found himself cheering for Baraou to beat Tellez (11-1, 8 KOs).

Baraou dropped Tellez late in the 12th round and won by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112.

“One of the judges I think saw it 114-113, something crazy like that,” Zayas said of the 115-112 card submitted by Efrain Lebron. “I think one of them saw it a draw and I’m like, ‘What were you watching? Like Tellez is losing every single round.’ I mean, there was a couple rounds that were close or whatever. But I feel like it was a pretty one-sided fight from the beginning.

“Tellez maybe had two, three rounds that went to his side, and everything else Abass was taking over. Abass was putting pressure, Abass was throwing punches, was landing the better combinations. But I kind of knew in the first round Tellez was sitting [on his punches] a little too much. He was trying to put power into everything.”