The manager of Zuffa Boxing welterweight Edwin De Los Santos filed an appeal to the Nevada State Athletic Commission Tuesday, seeking for his fighter’s second-round knockout loss to Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela to be converted to a no-contest.
After being knocked down by Valenzuela, De Los Santos was struck by another Valenzuela punch while on the canvas, constituting a foul in the view of De Los Santos’ manager, Adrian Clark.
“Edwin was not allowed the time to recover and [Valenzuela] should have had a point taken away from him,” Clark told BoxingScene Tuesday.
“I saw the foul happen, and was expecting [referee] Thomas [Taylor] to point ‘Rayo’ to his corner, and then make sure everyone was OK… 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 there was a blatant foul like that… .”
Clark sent his appeal to the Nevada commission’s Executive Director Jeff Mullen, who told Clark and Paramount+ after the fight that the Valenzuela contact was a graze on the chin, and not impactful to the outcome.
Nevada officials employed replay before finalizing their decision.
Yet, Clark, admitting he has “an uphill fight,” argues no such contact is permissible, and he’d like Nevada’s full board to review the outcome.
“If we’re really in this to protect the fighters… I listened to Thomas [Taylor] talk in the locker room. I was there when he gave his rules to Edwin and the trainer, and he was adamant that if you hit him while he’s down, you will get disqualified. [Taylor said,] ‘This is the warning. I don’t give warnings out there.
“And if you go look, there’s a video of [Taylor] giving the rules to Terrence Crawford before one of his fights. He says the same thing.”
The referee does possess latitude in situations like this, boxing officials say, and the prior punches on De Los Santos were all legitimate.
“I think Thomas Taylor is the best in the sport of boxing, and we don’t always get it right… in this case, our best referee looks like he missed something that was valuable, to protect the fighter. Edwin was not protected once he hit the canvas, and, respectfully, that’s his job.”
De Los Santos defeated Valenzuela by third-round knockout in 2022, and Valenzuela’s victory could prove highly lucrative, as he called out four-division and current WBO 140lbs champion Shakur Stevenson after the victory. De Los Santos was hopeful to gain a rematch versus Stevenson after losing to him by decision in 2023.
“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,” Clark said.
“That’s an illegal shot. It’s a foul that needs to be recognized. [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. Recognize the foul. Something should have been done about the foul, whether it was a point being taken away or a disqualification.”
