ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Joseph Adorno wasn’t interested in exchanging pleasantries with Edwin De Los Santos before, during or after a press conference Thursday at Showboat.
Adorno addressed the disrespectful comments that the Dominican southpaw made during the buildup toward their 10-round lightweight fight Saturday night. Allentown’s Adorno took particular offense to De Los Santos stating that he’ll send his 24-year-old opponent into retirement in the opener of their “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater (9:30 p.m. EDT; 6:30 p.m. PDT).
“He said he’s gonna knock me out, he’s gonna retire me, I’m done with boxing, this and that,” Adorno told krikya360.com. “And he’s wrong. He’s totally wrong for that. I feel like I’m definitely gonna stop him easy. I feel like he gets hit too much.”
Adorno (17-2-2, 14 KOs) briefly felt like he wanted to walk away from boxing after losing his last fight – a 10-rounder against another Dominican southpaw, Elvis Rodriguez, on February 25 at The Armory in Minneapolis. He suffered two knockdowns versus Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs), one in the seventh round and another in the 10th round, and lost a majority decision (97-91, 95-93, 94-94).
“I won that fight,” Adorno said. “It was a tough loss for me. The fight, after 10 rounds the bell rang, and I was happy. I got on the ropes and Elvis was all like down. He knew he lost. His whole team told me they thought he lost. Everybody seen I beat him easy [rounds] one through six, got caught in the seventh round, of course. But then eight, nine, I came back strong. The 10th round, I slipped and they called it a knockdown.
“In the second round, I dropped [Rodriguez] and they didn’t count it. I got the video of the commentators saying that. It was tough on me. I was at a point where I was like, ‘I don’t wanna do this no more.’ But I got the call right in the locker room, you know, from [prominent manager] Luis De Cubas [Jr.], saying, ‘I thought you won. You’ll get another shot and in your actual weight class.’ We’re back at 135 and, you know, I’m happy.”
Adorno’s past four fights have been contested at the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds. He had difficulty making weight for lightweight fights several times when he was promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., but Adorno has returned to that division’s limit of 135 pounds to battle De Los Santos.
“I’m not a 140-pounder,” Adorno said. “It’s just a lotta guys at 135 don’t wanna face tough challenges. And me, I’m all for it. God willing, I get the victory on Saturday night, and then I want [Isaac] ‘Pitbull’ [Cruz] next.”
De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs), of Reading, Pennsylvania, will fight for the first time since the hard-hitting 23-year-old contender upset previously undefeated Jose Valenzuela by third-round knockout 10 months ago.
Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) dropped De Los Santos during the second round, but De Los Santos sent Valenzuela to the canvas once apiece in the second and third rounds. Referee Ray Corona stopped their fight when Valenzuela was on his feet because Corona determined he had taken too much punishment last September 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“It was a great performance,” Adorno said. “The guy has got some strong hands. You know, he’s powerful. Of course, we gotta watch out for that. But I feel like he caught a not focused Valenzuela. That’s the way I look at it.”
Most sportsbooks have made De Los Santos at least a 3-1 favorite to defeat Adorno on the Jaron Ennis-Roiman Villa undercard.
“He just got a nice, big win, so they’re hyping him up and stuff,” Adorno said. “But it’s OK. It’s better for me.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.