Valle, 13-0 (7 KOs), won a unanimous decision over Eduardo Ramirez, 29-6-3 (14 KOs), on Friday at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, in the co-main event of a ProBox TV card. The scores were 96-94 on one card, while two others had it by the far-too-wide 98-92, all for the 25-year-old Valle, who lives about 90 minutes away in Lutz, Florida. The loss is the third in the past four fights for Ramirez, 33, of Los Mochis, Mexico.

Although it would appear that the 5ft 11ins junior lightweight Valle would best be served to box the 5ft 7ins southpaw Ramirez, he made the decision to square up and brawl to mixed returns. After a first round in which Ramirez was able to outwork his opponent, Valle established his jab better in the second round, but Ramirez still managed to sneak in body shots from the southpaw stance. Ramirez pushed Valle back in the third round, as Valle was all too willing to give Ramirez the slugfest he wanted. Valle’s willingness to square up and fight allowed Ramirez to land a double right hook to the body and right hooks to the head as well.

Valle found more success in the fourth as his left hooks to the body made Ramirez visibly uncomfortable. Valle, though overaggressive and not working behind his jab as much as would be expected from someone of his height, was able to will right hands and hooks to the face of Ramirez.

Ramirez warmed to the task in the fifth, rocking Valle with a right hook and left hand combination that shook his knees. Valle recovered quickly and was able to meet fire with fire, fighting his way out of trouble with right hands. Still, it was an approach that left him vulnerable to Ramirez’s counter punches, as Valle often lost balance by falling in whenever he threw his lead rights.

As Ramirez bowled in recklessly in the sixth, Valle was able to rock him midway through the round with an uppercut. Valle tried to capitalize, landing shots with his wide rights, but taking shots of his own as he became over-aggressive.

The fight took another pivotal turn in the seventh as Valle was cut seconds into the round over his right eye by a head-butt. It looked for a moment like the doctor wouldn’t allow the fight to continue as he inspected the cut, but the action resumed, with Ramirez jumping on Valle, who looked to take advantage of Ramirez’s aggression with counters, particularly with his underutilized jab, which opened up right hand opportunities for him.

Valle’s corner implored their fighter to use his jab more after the seventh, but Valle went right back to banging in the eighth, which paid off as he hurt Ramirez with hooks to the body that forced Ramirez to clinch. Ramirez bounced back in the ninth round as Valle languished too long on the inside too long, opening Valle up to hooks. Valle switched to boxing in the 10th round as Ramirez rushed him from the opening bell, but it was Ramirez who was able to land the more telling blows along the ropes.

The final punch count totals showed just how close the fight was contested, with Ramirez having a slight edge in total connects (159-152), while Valle threw more (591-553).

Ramirez – who fought former world titleholders Mark Magsayo and Lee Selby in losing efforts and who has been stopped only once, by Isaac Cruz in 2022 – represented a significant step up in experience for Valle.

Valle was fighting in his first 10-rounder, having defeated former title challenger Rene Alvarado by unanimous decision in November.

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.