Manager of De Los Santos appeals loss to Valenzuela.
On Sunday, Zuffa Boxing staged their 8th show, an event that was headlined by the rematch between Jose Valenzuela and Edwin De Los Santos.
In their first fight in 2022, De Los Santos won by third-round knockout. But almost four years later, Valenzuela did him one better by knocking him out in the second round.
However, when De Los Santos was already down, Valenzuela landed another shot, something that the former’s manager appealed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday.
Adrian Clark (manager of De Los Santos) told BoxingScene, “Edwin was not allowed the time to recover and [Valenzuela] should have had a point taken away from him.
“I saw the foul happen and was expecting [referee] Thomas [Taylor] to point ‘Rayo’ [Valenzuela] to his corner and then make sure everyone was okay … then get back up, and the fight will commence from there, however long it took, whether it’s a full five minutes. But to just count him out after a blatant foul like that….”
After Clark sent his appeal to Jeff Mullen (executive director of the Nevada commission), Mullen informed Clark and Paramount+ after the fight that the punch Valenzuela landed was a “graze on the chin” and wouldn’t have impacted the outcome.
But in Clark’s eyes, any sort of contact at all after a knockdown is unacceptable, stating, “When a guy is down, if you hit them–even if you tap them on the top of his head–that’s still coming in contact with a fighter that’s down.
“That’s an illegal shot. It’s a foul that needs to be recognised. [Mullen] is focusing on the outcome–the ending of the fight–since Edwin was already down. It’s not about that. There was a foul that happened. Recognise the foul. Something should have been done about the foul, whether it was a point being taken away or a disqualification.”
Clark is aiming for the Nevada commission’s full board to take a look at the outcome.
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