[4] Zayas' involvement with boxing began while living in the Cantera neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2007, when his mother took him to a gym so he could learn to defend himself from bullies.
[6] As a child, Zayas grew up admiring fellow Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto as he completed a Hall of Fame-career, with the former world champion's fights being the focus of family reunions.
[7] He also "used to watch videos of Tito Trinidad, Hector Macho Camacho, Wilfredo Benitez, all those great fighters that made Puerto Rico really proud and happy".
[7] A new age requirement of 19 prevented him from pursuing a berth in the 2020 Summer Olympics and the insecurity of boxing's inclusion in 2024 (due to long standing issues regarding the governance of AIBA, which led to a suspension by the IOC) played a role.
[7] Inquired about the signing, Arum first emphasized his maturity, intelligence and overall talent, but also expressed his belief that Zayas could be the "first [great] Hispanic heavyweight champion of the world" due to having open growth plates and fairly tall relatives.
[15] After making the decision to turn professional, he spent several months of inactivity and instead became involved in the training camps of other boxers, such as Ivan Baranchyk, Daniyar Yeluessinov, Ryan Martin, George Kambosos and Amir Imam.
[6] Meanwhile, the media used epithets that included "prodigy", "próxima gran cosa" (Spanish for "next big thing") and "niño dorado" ("golden boy") to describe Zayas and speculated he could become "The Next Great Puerto Rican Boxing Superstar.
"[16][17][14] Todd duBoef, who was convinced the boxer was not too young to perform after discussing the topic with David McWater, created a merchandising strategy around this perception and modeled it after the one used for Cotto, which included him using Héctor Lavoe's Aguanile (as sung by Marc Anthony) and carrying the flag of Puerto Rico.
"[18] Under the Top Rank banner, Zayas made his professional debut against previously undefeated (1-0) Genesis Wynn on October 26, 2019, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada, winning via first round knockout (KO).
Zayas opened the 2021 season by earning a unanimous decision over James Martin in February, going on to score consecutive technical knockouts over DeMarcus Layton and Larry Fryers to close the first half.
[28] He was scheduled to fight for a regional title in the co-main event of a Top Rank card on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, but withdrew due to a viral infection.