Lightweight Edwin De Los Santos, on standby and commissioned during fight week, stopped red-hot prospect Jose Valenzuela in the third round of a wild shootout in which both men were knocked down Sunday night on the undercard. of the Andy Ruis-Luis Ortiz heavyweight showdown. at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs), 22, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, was there in case he was needed and he was when Valenzuela’s original foe, former junior lightweight champion Jezreel Corrales. , also left-handed, was denied. a visa to come to the United States due to legal problems.
De Los Santos seized the opportunity.
“Valenzuela is a fighter that I feel has been protected and I wanted to show everyone what I am capable of,” De Los Santos said. “The plan was not to introduce myself as much, but when I saw how he was fighting, he was ready to go toe to toe. Mexican fighters love to fight like this, but he was open for me to attack.”
De Los Santos came out very aggressive and hurt Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KOs), 23, of Seattle, with a hard jab in the first round. He was pummeling Valenzuela in the second round when Valenzuela suddenly dropped him to his knees with his left hand.
De Los Santos quickly recovered to drop Valenzuela moments later, but also hit Valenzuela while he was down and referee Ray Corona docked a point.
Then, in the third round, De Los Santos dropped Valenzuela early in the third round and when another powerful left hand staggered Valenzuela again moments later, Corona stopped him at minute, 8 seconds.
“I faced a ranked fighter tonight and he was up for the task,” De Los Santos said. “Now I want the same name that everyone wants. I love Gervonta Davis.
Said Valenzuela: “I didn’t expect De Los Santos to be as aggressive as he was in the fight,” Valenzuela said. “He gave it as well as he took it. I just want to focus on getting back in the ring and redeeming myself.”
Spencer crosses Salgado
Junior middleweight Joey Spencer comfortably outboxed Kevin Salgado in a preliminary bout that aired on Fox just before the start of the pay-per-view. Spencer (16-0, 10 KOs), 22, of Fenton, Michigan, handed Salgado (14-1-1, 9 KOs), 24, of San Antonio, his first loss by scores of 100-90, 99-91, 99-91.
“He’s a hard-hitting counter-puncher, so we wanted to control the distance,” Spencer said. “I feel very strong. I’m very proud of the work we put into my conditioning and I think he showed himself in the fight.
“I’m getting better as I get more experience, and that helps me stay more composed in these fights. I’ll keep adding to my game as I get more comfortable. I’m definitely working on getting better as an offensive fighter.”
Spencer said she’s looking at much bigger names in the near future.
“I have a couple of ideas of who I want to fight next,” he said. “Tony Harrison, Tim Tszyu, Erickson Lubin and Sebastian Fundora are all the guys I want to fight. I want to face the best. There is a champion in the division (the undisputed champion Jermell Charlo) and we have to fight each other to get to him.”
Aleem defeats Plania
Junior featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem scored a second-round knockdown en route to a shutout decision over Mike Plania in a preliminary fight that aired on FS1.
Aleem (20-0, 12 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas had no trouble with Plania (26-2, 13 KOs), 25, of the Philippines, winning 100-89 on all three scorecards.
“The fight was everything I expected it to be,” Aleem said. “He is a very tough fighter and a great competitor. He just wanted to fight a smart fight because we know he’s dangerous. Although I didn’t feel the power from him, I know he can hit. I just wanted to take my time and let everything fall into place.
“My defense was on another level and my offense was strong as well. I kept my balance and took my time. I’m that kind of fighter where I don’t care if it’s the first round or the last round or if I’m on the cards. I want to stop you. I want to get you out of there. It was probably around the seventh round when I tried to turn up the volume, but I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”
Aleem’s biggest moment was the knockdown early in the second round when he tagged Plania with a right hand to the body that caused Plania to stumble and touch the mat with his glove.
“I caught him slipping in the second round. I could have jumped on him then, but I wanted to show growth as a fighter and continue to take my time,” Aleem said.
He wants a title shot now, specifically against unified champion and fellow PBC fighter Stephen Fulton. Jr. “It’s time for ‘scared boy’ Stephen Fulton Jr. to come out of hiding from him and sign the contract,” Aleem said. “Let’s get in there so he can give him his first loss. It would be a closer fight than tonight, but I still hope to dominate and get the victory.”
Aleem-Plania was originally scheduled for June 18 on the undercard of WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo’s fight with Maciej Sulecki, but the undercard was canceled when Charlo hurt his back. Martin stops Vargas
Former heavyweight champion Charles Martin was stopped by journeyman Devin Vargas in the fourth round of a scheduled eight-round bout with an accumulation of punches.
Martin (29-3-1, 26 KOs), 36, of Carson, California, dominated the fight and after forcing Vargas to the ropes he continued to throw hard shots that caused referee Jerry Cantu to stop him 1 minute from the fight. fourth. Martin rebounded from a sixth-round knockout loss to Luis Ortiz in a shootout in which he dropped Ortiz in the first and fourth rounds before Ortiz dropped him twice in the sixth round.
Vargas (22-8, 9 KOs), 40, who participated in the 2004 US Olympics, fell to 2-4 in his last six fights.
