ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Edwin De Los Santos hoped his career-changing knockout of Jose Valenzuela would lead to a shot at one of the top contenders in the lightweight division.
According to De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs) and his handlers, Isaac Cruz wasn’t interested in facing him next, which led to De Los Santos scheduling another difficult fight for Saturday night. The heavy-handed Dominican southpaw will face Joseph Adorno (17-2-2, 14 KOs), whom De Los Santos considers the toughest opponent of his career, in a high-stakes, 10-round, 135-pound fight that’ll open Showtime’s three-bout broadcast from Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater (9:30 p.m. PDT; 6:30 p.m. PDT).
“I was surprised. Isaac’s not someone that dodges fighters,” De Los Santos told krikya360.com through a translator. “He’s fought quality opponents before, so when they told me that he wouldn’t fight me, I was taken aback and I said, ‘I wonder why that is.’ It was in the rumor mill, but from what I hear the purse that was being offered wasn’t worth the risk of fighting me.”
Mexico City’s Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs), who is ranked third by the WBC, will instead square off against Chicago’s Giovanni Cabrera (21-0, 7 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature of Showtime Pay-Per-View’s Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford card July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The 23-year-old De Los Santos applauded Adorno for accepting their fight, which he predicted will produce proverbial “fireworks” four days after the Fourth of July.
“If he accepted facing me, it means he’s ready to put on a show for the fans,” De Los Santos said. “That’s what they deserve.”
De Los Santos and Valenzuela delivered fans plenty of entertainment in De Los Santos’ last fight. De Los Santos, a resident of Reading, Pennsylvania, got up from a second-round knockdown, dropped Valenzuela once apiece in the second and third rounds and pulled off an upset September 4 on the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Luis Ortiz undercard at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The Mexican-born Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) was undefeated and entered the ring as more than a 7-1 favorite over De Los Santos, who is favored by a slimmer margin, 3-1, to defeat Adorno. The 24-year-old Adorno, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, will attempt to overcome a 10-round, majority-decision defeat to another Dominican southpaw, Elvis Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs), in his most recent fight February 25 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
De Los Santos will end a 10-month layoff against Adorno, but he expects to be plenty sharp enough to produce what would be a third straight noteworthy win. He knocked out previously unbeaten Luis Acosta (13-1, 12 KOs) in the second round of his bout before he overwhelmed Valenzuela.
“I’m fully focused on this fight,” De Los Santos. “God willing, after this I’m gonna have even bigger and better opportunities ahead. I’m motivated by that, but I’ve gotta stay centered on this.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.