Zuffa Boxing arrived at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, where the eight-fight card delivered action aplenty at Zuffa Boxing 08: De Los Santos vs Valenzuela.
The night was headlined by a lightweight rematch as Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela avenged his 2022 defeat to Edwin De Los Santos in spectacular fashion, while a featherweight contender continued his rise as Omar Trinidad defeated former super flyweight world champion Jerwin Ancajas in the co-headliner.
They rounded off an action-packed card that delivered a night full of knockouts and back-and-forth battles on the Las Vegas Strip.
In the night’s main event, Jose “El Rayo” Valenzuela avenged the most damaging defeat of his career with a stunning second-round knockout of his former nemesis Edwin De Los Santos.
De Los Santos took the win in their first meeting back in September 2022, when he knocked out Valenzuela in the third round in a fight that saw both men hit the canvas. But in the rematch four years later, Valenzuela showed his evolution as he spectacularly knocked out De Los Santos in the second round to deliver a huge statement to the rest of the lightweight division.
A sharp start from De Los Santos almost ended in disaster at the end of the opening round when Valenzuela connected with a huge left hand that badly wobbled the Dominican in the closing seconds. Another follow-up left hand wobbled De Los Santos again, but the round came to a close before “Rayo” was able to take full advantage.
Having seen the results of his power punches late in the first round, Valenzuela resumed his attack in the second and clipped De Los Santos again as he stalked his man around the ring.
Valenzuela stayed composed and landed again, which drew De Los Santos off the ropes and into a wild battle of hooks. Valenzuela covered up well and unleashed a perfectly-timed right hook that sent De Los Santos down to the canvas for the count of 10.
It gave Valenzuela the most satisfying, and important, victory of this chapter of his career as the former 140-pound world champion proved himself as a legitimate contender for 135-pound championship gold.
And after improving his career record to 16-3 with the 10th knockout of his career, “Rayo” capped off his night by making clear what he wants next – a fight with pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson.
In the co-main event, undefeated featherweight Omar Trinidad claimed the most significant victory of his career to date with a unanimous decision win over former super flyweight world champion Jerwin Ancajas.
Trinidad made full use of his physical advantages of height and reach, while Ancajas utilized his marginally superior speed as the pair engaged in a fascinating orthodox-versus-southpaw chess match, with both men scoring with solid, well-timed shots.
As the fight moved into the middle rounds, Trinidad’s heavier shots started to slow the former world champion, whose counters still found their mark, but at the higher weight didn’t carry the same fight-altering power they did when he competed at 115 pounds.
And in the closing stages of the final round, it looked like Trinidad might just claim a late stoppage when he rocked Ancajas and poured on the pressure in a bid to get the finish. But, with referee Tony Weeks watching closely, Ancajas was allowed to continue, and the Filipino warrior fired back with big shots of his own as the pair stood and traded all the way to the final bell.
In the end, Trinidad’s superior strike rate and heavier work through the second half of the fight proved crucial as he claimed a unanimous decision victory with scores of 97-93 across the board.
Trinidad’s victory moved him to 21-0-2, with his last two victories coming inside the Zuffa Boxing ring. And with a victory over a respected world-level operator on his resumé, Trinidad is looking for the highest-caliber opposition possible as he looks to challenge for world championship gold.
In the main card opener, Cain Sandoval bounced back from his Zuffa Boxing 01 defeat to Julian Rodriguez with a hard-earned majority decision win over 30-0 Brandun Lee in their 10-round welterweight matchup.
After a build-up that featured plenty of trash talk between the pair, there was an air of anticipation when the action got underway, and both men delivered the goods in a breathless 10 rounder. In the end, Sandoval’s tactical adjustments and relentless approach proved too much for Lee, who fought hard, but simply had no answer to Sandoval’s determination, particularly through the second half of the fight.
Sandoval started out in a noticeably different style from his fight with Rodriguez as he worked from the outside, rather than closing in to fight at close range. Lee, meanwhile, looked relaxed and comfortable as he established his range, utilizing a smart double-jab.
After four closely-contested rounds, Sandoval turned up the intensity and boxed a superb fifth round as he returned to the high-pressure approach we saw in the Rodriguez fight.
That approach continued through Rounds 6 and 7 as Sandoval repeatedly worked Lee to the body in a bid to break his opponent. And in a fiercely contested eighth round, both men went toe to toe and swung for the fences as Sandoval threatened to overwhelm Lee with shots in a breathless final exchange.
That crazy pace continued through the final two rounds as both fighters left it all in the ring as they battled all the way to the final bell.
When the scorecards were announced, there was a degree of surprise inside the arena at how close the scores were, but there was no controversy over the victor, as Sandoval claimed scores of 95-95, 96-94, 97-93 to seal his first victory under the Zuffa Boxing banner.
Andres Teran bided his time, waited his moment, and eventually found the punch that mattered as he turned the tables on undefeated prospect Floyd Diaz in their 10-round bantamweight contest.
Diaz settled quickly and landed stiff shots during an impressive start, but nothing he landed deterred Teran from stalking him around the ring. By the mid-way point of Round 2, the Mexican had found his range and was responding to Diaz’s shots in kind, but the Las Vegas-based Peruvian’s activity and more eye-catching shots ensured he held the early advantage.
Teran kept him honest throughout and cut off the ring pretty effectively, but Diaz always managed to do just enough to keep him one step ahead of his more experienced opponent as he found the right shots at the right time to prevent Teran from teeing off on him.
But that all changed in Round 6, when Teran connected clean with a right hand that spun Diaz’s chin and put the Peruvian in big trouble. Teran saw his moment and poured on the pressure to eventually force referee Thomas Taylor to step in to spare Diaz further punishment.
The knockout came with Teran 5-0 down on all three scorecards, as “Loquillo” scored a huge come-from-behind victory to take his record to 19-2 with the 14th knockout of his career.
Tony Hirsch Jr continued his emergence as a bona fide talent in the Zuffa Boxing lightweight division with a highlight-reel knockout of fellow unbeaten prospect Jaybrio Pe Benito taking his record to 9-0-2 (5 KOs).
Both men entered the ring having already picked up notable victories inside the Zuffa Boxing ring, and it was Pe Benito who started the faster of the pair as he quickly got to work, throwing combinations.
MORE: Tony Hirsch Jr Post-Fight Interview
But, after gauging his opponent’s timing, Hirsch started to counter effectively, with one ramrod straight right connecting clean for the most eye-catching shot of the first two rounds.
By the third round, Hirsch had seen enough, and the Oakland native put his foot on the accelerator as he lined up Pe Benito, then finished him in highlight-reel fashion. Three jab-to-right-hand combinations found their mark in quick succession, with the final shot sending Pe Benito face-first to the canvas for a show-stopping knockout.
The welterweight bout between Damoni Cato-Cain and Vernon “Sub-Zero” Brown served up a classic boxer-versus-puncher matchup, and after eight rounds of non-stop action, it was the boxer who was left with his hand raised in victory as Cato-Cain claimed his 10th professional win.
Brown fought like a man with full faith in his knockout power as he loaded up with heavy shots throughout the fight. But Cato-Cain was the sharper, slicker fighter, and he used those skills to good effect throughout the contest as he utilized his six-inch reach advantage and superior speed to consistently score with smart combinations.
From the mid-point of the fight onward, Brown tried to up the aggression, and ended each round with a vicious salvo as he landed his best punches of the fight in the last 30 seconds of Rounds 4, 5, and 6. But, despite Brown’s heavy shots, Cato-Cain’s chin held up well, while his conditioning ensured that he was half a step ahead throughout.
A left hand in close saw Cato-Cain touch down in the final round, but referee Allen Huggins ruled it a trip, rather than a knockdown. Once the action resumed, Cato-Cain happily stood in the pocket with Brown who, despite his best efforts, couldn’t find a punch to turn the fight in his favor.
After a brief wait while the commission studied replay footage of the potential knockdown, the no-knockdown verdict stood, and the final scorecards reflected the level of success each man had in the fight, with Cato-Cain getting the victory with scores of 78-74, 78-74, 79-73.
Undefeated lightweight prospects Brady Ochoa and Adrian Serrano battled to a majority draw after six entertaining rounds at Zuffa Boxing 04 back in March, and at The Chelsea the pair ran it back in an action-packed rematch, with Serrano eventually emerging as the winner via unanimous decision.
Unsurprisingly, given how well they already knew each other, there was no feeling-out process as both fighters planted their feet and threw with vicious intent early. Serrano was the aggressor, pushing forward, throwing heavy shots, but Ochoa countered smartly with sharp, accurate shots at the end of Serrano’s flurries.
By the third round, Serrano’s relentless forward pressure and power punching had started to have an effect on Ochoa’s output, with the teenager noticeably less able to respond with power shots of his own.
The back-and-forth action continued through the fourth round, but in the fifth, Ochoa found his second wind as he came out of the corner and unloaded a punishing salvo of power shots in a bid to slow the relentless pace of Serrano. But, in the closing minute of the round, Serrano was still there, walking forward and landing clean, crisp shots as the pair went toe-to-toe in a thrilling penultimate round.
It set things up for a potentially crucial final frame, and both fighters emptied the tank in a thrilling finale as they battled all the way to the judges’ scorecards once again.
This time there was a winner, with Serrano getting the nod from all three ringside judges, who returned scores of 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 for “El Diamante”, who moves on to 7-0-2. Ochoa, meanwhile, takes the first loss of his career.
But, given the sheer entertainment the pair delivered in their first two matchups, few would complain if they met in a trilogy bout further down the line.
The night kicked off with a battle of undefeated southpaw heavyweight prospects, and it didn’t take long for the heavy leather to start flying as Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Zokirov stopped American Zach Spiller in the second round.
A beautiful one-two combination from Zokirov landed clean and sent Spiller to the canvas just as the 10-second clapper sounded at the end of the first round.
That knockdown at the end of the round gave Zokirov the encouragement to up his output in Round 2, and he started to connect with Spiller at will. Spiller hung tough, and even landed a big counter left of his own that gave the Uzbek a moment’s pause, but Zokirov was determined to get the finish, and he completed the job with a vicious flurry of unanswered shots that forced referee Tony Weeks to step in at the 2:02 mark.
Zokirov’s win takes his fledgling professional record to 2-0 (2 KOs), and offers plenty of promise for his future prospects in the Zuffa Boxing heavyweight division.
