Edwin De Los Santos and his camp are appealing his second-round knockout loss to Jose Valenzuela, arguing that the same illegal act De Los Santos was once penalized for is what cost him the rematch.
In their 2022 bout, De Los Santos was docked a point for hitting Valenzuela while he was down. Now his manager says Valenzuela struck De Los Santos on the canvas, and he wants the result overturned to a no-contest.
De Los Santos’ manager, Adrian Clark, filed the appeal following the knockout defeat at Sunday’s Zuffa Boxing card, according to ESPN. The petition seeks to reverse the loss because Valenzuela connected with a punch while De Los Santos was already down.
Valenzuela dropped De Los Santos with a right hand during an exchange. De Los Santos sank slowly to a knee as Valenzuela appeared to connect with a left hand, and referee Thomas Taylor counted him out.
Manager Frames Appeal As A Fighter-Safety Issue
Clark argued that the rules are clear and that De Los Santos was denied a fair chance to recover.
Rules are rules. It doesn’t matter where the shot landed or how hard it was,” Clark said in a statement. “When a fighter is on a knee or down, it is illegal to hit him. Edwin was robbed of the opportunity to recover from the blatantly illegal shot.
Clark said the shot that dropped De Los Santos was legitimate, but insisted the follow-up crossed the line.
The punch that knocked him down was a good shot by Valenzuela. However, if De Los Santos was out, the referee would have immediately waived the count and called the fight. Everyone watching that fight knows that is a foul,” Clark said.
My petition is based around the protection of fighters. If the commission for the state that lands a majority of the big fights says that an illegal shot has no bearing on the outcome of a fight, that’s a problem for the sport.
De Los Santos Wants A Rubber Match Regardless
Sunday’s fight was a rematch of their 2022 meeting, which De Los Santos won by third-round knockout. Clark noted that De Los Santos himself was deducted a point in that earlier bout for striking Valenzuela while he was down, an inconsistency the camp is now leaning on.
De Los Santos said he will let the appeal play out but is not hanging his defeat on the illegal blow.
I will let the appeal go through the proper channels, but I am not going to focus on the illegal hit,” De Los Santos said. “I got caught with a good shot. I was stunned, but not hurt. I won’t make any excuses. Eventually I’m going to get the opportunity to fight him again.