If you thought you had seen it all after this Super Bowl LX and its controversial halftime show, life once again teaches us to expect the unexpected. In a surprising crossover blending football and boxing, Xander Zayas was one of the actors that performed alongside Bad Bunny.
While speaking with TMZ, the newly crowned unified world champion shared that his path to the Super Bowl stage was not through a casting agency, but through a personal phone call from Benito himself, who decided that he was better option than other models.
Zayas over professional models
Originally, the performance was meant to be done by professional male models to play the roles of boxers during Benito’s high-energy routine. However, Bad Bunny prefered to actually involve someone who knew what he was doing.
Zayas, who recently signed a marketing deal with Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports, revealed to TMZ that the singer personally reached out to swap the models for a legitimate fighter.
“He realized well, we just signed Xander Zayas to Rimas Sports, his company, so might as well have him. He extended the invitation two weeks before my fight
Betting on himself: “I need to win first”
For Zayas, the invitation was the opportunity of a lifetime, but for the 23-0 fighter, it came with a self-imposed condition. At the time of the offer, Zayas was still preparing for a his unification bout against Abass Baraou in his hometown of San Juan.
That is why, while showing the grit of a true champion, Zayas told the global superstar he could not commit to the Super Bowl just yet, as he had to take care of business in the ring first.
“Obviously I told him, ‘Hey, I need to win first. I don’t wanna go to the Super Bowl as a loser
Obviously, Zayas stayed true to his word. On January 31 he defeated Baraou by decision at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, becoming the youngest unified world champion in the sport. Only after securing his titles did he fly to San Francisco to join the halftime cast. What a beginning of the year for Zayas.
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