Jose Valenzuela had heroes he watched growing up.
Ironically, he is one of those heroes who could be the key to winning a world title, and putting an exclamation point on overcoming personal problems outside the ring.
Valenzuela will challenge Isaac Cruz for the WBA junior welterweight title on Saturday night at BMO Stadium, Los Angeles. The 12-round bout will precede a headline bout between Ring welterweight champion Terence Crawford and WBA junior middleweight world titleholder Israel Madrimov.
Both fights will be broadcast live on multiple platforms, including PPV.com and DAZNBoxing PPV (4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT).
Southpaw Valenzuela (13-2, 9 knockouts), who hails from the boxing hot spot of Los Mochis, Mexico and now lives in Renton, Washington, began working with trainer Robert Garcia earlier this year after previously working with Jose Benavidez. Valenzuela has been training at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside, California for the past several months, including his last fight, a knockout victory over Chris Colbert on December 16.
Valenzuela has seen great improvement in working with Garcia, as well as putting out the best fights in boxing.
“It's an honor to be here,” Valenzuela told The Ring after a workout at Garcia's gym in Riverside. “I watched Robert a lot when I was young. I used to have pictures and posters of him and the world champions he trained. (Fighters like) Nonito Donaire, (Brandon) 'Bam Bam' Rios, Mikey Garcia. It's crazy that now I have a chance to get on his (championship) wall. Being a famous coach, working with my team is a dream come true. I feel so good and blessed to be here.
“(I've seen improvement) in my fundamentals, my feet, my hands, all put together, just seeing it all. Small things maybe. Not to be so careless. To be more precise. Distance, too. I think those are the big keys.”
The knockout victory over Colbert was a rematch of their previous fight on March 25 of last year, when Colbert overcame a knockdown to win a unanimous decision.
Valenzuela also had to undergo surgery two weeks before Colbert's first fight after suffering an undisclosed injury, which he said prevented him from being 100%. Prior to the loss to Colbert, Valenzuela was knocked down numerous times en route to a knockout victory over Edwin De Los Santos.
José Valenzuela (right) stops Chris Colbert (left) – Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime
Along with the recent loss, Valenzuela had some personal issues going on and was hanging out with the wrong crowd. After moving on and deepening his relationship with those people, Valenzuela believes he is now 100 percent mentally prepared. Valenzuela also felt relief and satisfaction after defeating Colbert in the rematch.
“(The win) means everything to me right now because I was coming off a tough fight with Edwin De Los Santos,” said Valenzuela, who goes by the nickname 'Rayo' or lightning in Spanish. “I didn't have a good idea (to go to war). I was not mature yet. I wasn't around the people I needed to be with. I could lose everything. Training hard all my camp, then I have an accident in the end, I have to have surgery, until I reach the war, I fought with my heart and robbery. I was given another chance, so I trained like I had never trained before. I made the decision to come here, and it paid off. It meant everything to me at the moment. This fight means everything to me now.
“It was outside the ring. It wasn't that much (in it). I didn't really prepare. I was not focused. I was not (among) the right people. Also, (De Los Santos) was at the last minute. I didn't care to find out who he was. My head was high. I learned a lot outside the ring. I think it was a good experience (for me). It made me a better person.”
Valenzuela will face a fighter in Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs), who won the WBA title by stopping Rolando 'Rolly' Romer in the 8th round of his last fight on March 30. Cruz, who lives in Mexico City, he has won his last four fights since a decision loss to Gervonta 'Tank' Davis in December 2021.
Despite taking a significant step back against Cruz, Valenzuela is confident he has the improved skills and preparation to pull off an upset victory and take home the title on Saturday night.
“I think I have more advantages (than Cruz),” said Valenzuela. “I have speed. I have strength. I have footwork, ring generalship, (and) height. I have to go in there that night (ordered) and use it.
“We know what you will do. There is no secret. He won't change it. He knows what he's doing. We know what he's doing. He is not some crazy mystery box that we have to find. It is prepared for his style and we are extremely prepared. I just finished 12 rounds (with) three different fighters (July 19). I carried my conditioner all the way. I carried my energy all the way. I am in good shape and ready to shock the world.”
Having overcome the obstacles he faced, and his struggles during his youth, Valenzuela believes the icing on the cake will be winning a world title.
“It would mean everything to me. This is just on top of the last few things I've been dealing with in the last few fights. This means that I go back to when I started, my parents struggled to get me here. I used to come home (to them) to get eviction letters, to pick up gifts from the food bank, to see pain (from my parents) and almost lose everything because I was distracted.
“I'm more hungry than before. And Pitbull is a great fighter. I don't want to be shot by someone else for the title because 'Pitbull' (Cruz) will bring out the best in me.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘161022561146884’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10&appId=128026463954740”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
Source link
