LOS ANGELES – Edwin De Los Santos was an unknown boxer for a few weeks, but he made a name for himself Sunday night at the expense of highly touted prospect Jose Valenzuela.
De Los Santos overcame a knockdown to stop Valenzuela in round 3 before a boisterous crowd at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center).
De Los Santos, who resides in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, improves to 15-1, 14 KOs.
Both southpaw fighters had their moments in the first round as Valenzuela landed the most telling punches early on.
Midway through the second round, Valenzuela landed a left to the body, followed by a left center to the head that dropped De Los Santos to the canvas. De Los Santos beat the count and surprised Valenzuela with a left foot of his own.
Moments later, De Los Santos tackled Valenzuela to the canvas. While Valenzuela was on the canvas, De Los Santos followed up and landed a punch, causing referee Ray Corona to deduct a point from De Los Santos. Valenzuela was still on shaky legs when the action resumed, but he was able to get out of the round.
Moments into the third round, De Los Santos dropped Valenzuela with a left center to the head. Valenzuela beat the count, but he was on wobbly legs. To his credit, Valenzuela kept fighting, but was stunned again by another left center to the head of De Los Santos. Referee Ray Corona immediately stepped in and wisely stopped the fight at 1:08.
De Los Santos, who is promoted by Sampson Lewkowicz, took the fight against Valenzuela last week after the original opponent, former contender Jezreel Corrales, pulled out of the fight due to visa issues.
Valenzuela, who is originally from Los Mochis, Mexico and now trains in Seattle, Washington, drops to 12-1, 8 KOs. In his previous fight on April 16, Valenzuela knocked out former junior lightweight world champion Francisco Vargas in the first round.
In a clash of undefeated junior middleweights, Joey Spencer defeated Kevin Salgado by unanimous decision.
The fight was devoid of action as both men worked behind a jab. When they squared off, Spencer landed the most effective punches during the fight.
The scores were 99-91, 99-91 and 100-90 for Spencer, who is 16-0, 10 KO’s.
Salgado, who resides in Mexico City, drops to 14-1-1, 9 KOs.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County, California, Star newspaper. He can be contacted by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
