Jose Valenzuela vs Edwin De Los Santos Preview June 28th, 2026
Former WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Jose Valenzuela of Mexico returns to the squared circle this Sunday, June 28th to battle it out with Edwin De Los Santos of the Dominican Republic. The southpaw Valenzuela was stopped by De Los Santos in September, 2022 to lose his WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Title. Since that defeat he won the WBA Crown in 2024 by edging Isaac Cruz via a split decision. However he lost his title in his first defence when he dropped a wide unanimous decision to Gary Antuanne Russell in March, 2025. He rebounded from that fight this February with a wide 10-round unanimous decision over Diego Nunez. De Los Santos, who’s also a southpaw, last fought in December when he halted Eliot Chavez in just 45 seconds. The 10-round lightweight tilt from Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live on Paramount+ while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Sports Main Event. This is just the second fight for De Los Santos since November, 2023 when he dropped a unanimous decision to Shakur Stevenson in a shot at the vacant WBC Lightweight Belt in one of the worst title fights in boxing history.
Valenzuela vs De Los Santos Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Edwin De Los Santos +109
- Jose Valenzuela -140
My Pick
The 27-year-old Valenzuela makes the ring walk with a mark of 15-3 with 9 Ko’s and has fought just 95 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach. He has decent power in his arsenal as 60 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. However he’s gone the distance in his last three fights and in four of his past five. Valenzuela first made the boxing headlines when he stopped former world champion Francisco Vargas in just 85 seconds in April, 2022 for the vacant WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Title.
However, he was stopped himself in the third round five months later by Edwin De Los Santos and lost the belt. He then dropped his second straight contest when Chris Colbert edged him in their first battle via a controversial 10-round unanimous decision by scores of 95-94 across the board. Valenzuela then halted Colbert in the sixth round in their rematch in December, 2023 to earn a title shot.
Valenzuela’s first 11 opponents were basically novices and journeymen as he kicked off his pro career and made his way up the lightweight ranks. He then shocked a lot of fans by taking the WBA Junior Welterweight title from Issac Cruz in his first fight in the 140 lb weight division. He then headed back to 135 lb lightweight division after losing his world title to Russell.
The 26-year-old De Los Santos boasts a fine record of 17-2 with 15 big Ko’s. He’s boxed just 61 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018 and that’s due to recording all 15 of his stoppages by the sixth round. In fact, he’s stopped seven opponents in the first round, six in the second round and one in the third and one in the sixth. He definitely has tremendous power in his fists as 88.2 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage even though he’s gone the distance in three of his past six outings.
De Los Santos measures 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 70-inch reach so gives up an inch in height to Valenzuela but has an inch edge in reach. The first defeat on De Los Santos’ record came in January, 2022 when he dropped an eight-round split decision to William Foster III. Most of his early opponents were unranked fighters to kick off his pro career with but he managed to win the vacant WBA Fedecaribe Super Featherweight Crown in 2019 with a 52-second stoppage of Antoni Armas.
He added the vacant WBA Fedecaribe Lightweight Title a year later when he stopped Juan Perez in 62 seconds and the vacant WBC Latino Super Featherweight Belt in 2021 when he halted Luis Alvarez in the first round. He then captured the WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Belt by stopping Jose Valenzuela in the third round and defended it against Joseph Adorno via a unanimous decision and also has a win over Luis Acosta. His second defeat came at the hands of Shakur Stevenson in the terrible attempt at a world title in November, 2023 when neither boxer let their hands go.
Prediction…
De Los Santos is an aggressive fighter who had no clue how to compete against Shakur Stevenson but seems to do fairly well against other aggressive boxers. In their first meeting, Valenzuela was down once in rounds two and three while De Los Santos was dropped in round two and also was deducted a point for hitting Valenzuela while he was down. Since that loss Valenzuela has looked quite impressive against Chris Colbert and Isaac Cruz and should be a bit more confident even though he lost a wide decision to Gary Antuanne Russell. As long as his chin holds up this time, I’m expecting Valenzuela to even the score against De Los Santos but this is really a tossup.
Valenzuela has the better boxing skills but will need a sturdy chin.
Play Valenzuela -140 @ BetOnline.ag
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Edwin De Los Santos betting • Jose Valenzuela betting