Xander Zayas’ knockout of Slawa Spomer convinced the Puerto Rican contender that he is ready for a junior middleweight title shot.

Zayas called out WBO 154-pound champion Sebastian Fundora following his ninth-round stoppage of Germany’s Spomer last Friday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The 22-year-old Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs), of Sunrise, Florida, is ranked No. 1 among the WBO’s junior middleweight contenders, but the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning organization is expected to name Zayas its mandatory challenger in that division now that he has soundly defeated the 11th-ranked Spomer (20-1, 11 KOs).

Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) is scheduled to fight five weeks after Zayas topped Spomer, which places them on compatible schedules. The 6-foot-6 southpaw from Coachella, California, will defend his WBO and WBC belts against Chordale Booker (23-1, 11 KOs), a southpaw from Stamford, Connecticut, on March 22 in the main event of a three-bout show Amazon will offer to subscribers on Prime Video from Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

“I think I should be the next guy for whoever wins that fight, which I think should be Sebastian Fundora,” Zayas told The Ring. “I should be the next guy for Sebastian or Booker. At the end of the day, it’s still boxing. Anything can happen, so whoever the winner is, I should be the next guy to face [him].”

If Fundora beats Booker, the WBO’s No. 5 contender for his title, Zayas wants to fight Fundora in June or July at Madison Square Garden or The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Zayas’ promoter, has The Theater on hold for June 7, tentatively for Zayas’ next bout. That card would take place the night before the annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.

If Fundora defeats Booker next month and decides that fighting on June 7 would represent too quick of a turnaround, Top Rank would be open to pushing Zayas’ return back a few weeks, even into July, based on the availability of Madison Square Garden.

Top Rank cannot place a hold on 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden for June 7 because Garden officials have the leave their main arena available in the event the Knicks or Rangers make deep runs in the NBA or Stanley Cup playoffs. The Theater holds approximately 5,100 for boxing, about 25 percent of the main arena’s capacity.

Top Rank’s deal with ESPN doesn’t expire until the end of July, therefore Zayas-Fundora could headline one of the company’s final telecasts on the prominent sports cable channel.

“The sooner the better,” Zayas said. “We’re fighting a month apart … so if we could do something during the summer that would be amazing – not just for me, but for him. We stay active, we don’t take much time off. Whenever we fight, it’s not like, ‘Oh, he had an eight-month layoff. They sat back for eight months. They weren’t active.’ So, there’s no excuses. We’ll both be active, we’re both competitive and it’ll be a good fight.”