Edwin De Los Santos was training for an untelevised undercard fight on a separate show when he received the late call.
The Dominican knockout artist rose to the occasion, scoring an upset third-round knockout of previously undefeated lightweight Jose Valenzuela. De Los Santos survived a second-round knockdown to score two of his own by forcing stoppage at 1:08 of the third round in his Fox Sports Pay-Per-View opener on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena in The Angels.
Valenzuela was spared the embarrassment of being left without an opponent thanks to De Los Santos remaining on hold for nearly a month. De Los Santos was told to be ready if originally scheduled former WBA junior lightweight champion Jezreel Corrales couldn’t get a travel visa, which turned out to be the case.
De Los Santos wasted no time showing that he was well beyond a typical late replacement. The 22-year-old southpaw from Santo Domingo caught Valenzuela off guard with a four-punch combination. Valenzuela was forced to soften his aggressive attacking attempt, going to the jab and keeping his distance while respecting the power of De Los Santos. De Los Santos caught a lunging Valenzuela with a jab, throwing a left hand behind to highlight a strong opening round.
It would not be a candle for the rest of the fight.
Valenzuela was still savage in his attack but able to get by with his raw power. De Los Santos managed to land a left hand but was rocked by a counter right hook from Valenzuela. A subsequent volley from Valenzuela proved to be a showcase as De Los Santos was already on his way to the first knockdown of the fight.
De Los Santos responded immediately by getting up from the canvas, drilling Valenzuela with a right hook. Valenzuela was rocked hard as De Los Santos with a flurry of punches to send the undefeated Mexican to the canvas and nearly through the ropes. De Los Santos was caught in the moment and continued to throw punches while Valenzuela was down, drawing disdain from referee Ray Corona, who deducted a point from his scorecard.
De Los Santos closed out the show in style in the third round. A left hand struck Valenzuela on the chin, forcing him to his knees. Corona warned Valenzuela as he got up that further punishment would result in an immediate stoppage. The third man stayed true to his word, as a subsequent flurry from De Los Santos left Valenzuela defenseless and soon with his first loss as he dropped to 12-1 (8KOs).
The victory is the second in a row for De Los Santos (15-1, 14KOs) after suffering his first loss in early January. The hard-hitting prospect admitted that he had flaws to correct, which he has emphatically improved on as shown by first consecutive knockout wins.
Valenzuela-De Los Santos opened a four-fight pay-per-view. Headlining the show, former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz (34-2, 22KOs) takes on two-time title challenger Luis Ortiz (33-2, 28KOs) in a scheduled twelve-round WBC heavyweight semifinal eliminator. .
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
