Rayo Valenzuela W10 Diego Torres... In the headline bout at Zuffa Boxing 02 in Las Vegas, former WBA junior welterweight champion Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela kicked off a new chapter in his career as he dropped to lightweight outpoint hard-hitting Diego “Azabache” Torres over ten rounds. There was no feeling-out process as both men traded big shots early, with Torres making good on his promise to walk down the former world champion and throw non-stop punches. As the early rounds played out, Valenzuela took charge of the exchanges when he kept the fight at range. But when Torres got up close, he appeared to have the better of the action as he ripped Valenzuela hard with short, chopping shots. With the action, and the momentum, swinging back and forth, a left hook from Torres opened up a nasty cut over the corner of Valenzuela’s right eye. But, after some sterling work from the cutman between rounds, the flow of blood was stemmed and Valenzuela came out for the fifth round and continued to sting Torres from range while making “El Azabache” miss.

 

As the action moved into the second half of the contest, Torres started to slow, and Valenzuela began to separate himself from his opponent, scoring-wise, with sharper footwork and more consistent boxing.

 

And as the pair battled it out in the closing rounds, it was Valenzuela still landing the cleaner, more impactful shots as he pulled away down the stretch to secure a clear unanimous decision victory, with scores of 99-91 across the board.

 

After his victory, Valenzuela admitted that he allowed himself to get dragged into a dogfight early on, before eventually reverting to his gameplan and leaning on his boxing to outpoint Torres on the scorecards.

 

“He came out hot, so I got caught in the fire, and I smelled blood, and I got a little excited,” he said. “I had to just relax and remember the gameplan. Just find my shots (and) be smart … (and) catch him with big shots coming in.”

 

And when Zuffa Boxing analyst Max Kellerman asked him why he opted to keep boxing in the final round rather than looking to spoil, hold and stay out of trouble, his answer was exactly what fight fans wanted to hear. “Because I’m a fighter,” he stated. "These people pay their hard working money, and that’s what we do here at Zuffa Boxing.”

 

He also paid tribute to Torres for pushing him so hard over the 10 rounds, saying, “I want to give him thanks. I appreciate him for taking this fight. He’s a dog. He only had one loss, and he showed why he’s so tough today.”