Dominic Valle isn’t your typical young fighter on the rise.
The unbeaten prospect has spent the past few years balancing two very different spotlights. He has made a name for himself trading leather in the ring on ProBox TV, but away from the squared circle he has been carving out a career from something much more civilized – and something unusual for a man who earns a living throwing and receiving blows to the head.
Although Valle may trade leather for a living, you would not think that that is his choice of profession if you were to encounter him elsewhere. A 24-year-old from Puerto Rico, Valle has not only been gifted with his nation's fighting spirit, but he has also inherited its good looks – so much so that he was contacted by a modeling agency earlier in his career and has not looked back since.
“We went out to Miami,” Valle explained to BoxingScene. “They saw me, and they said, ‘How about you? You want to model?’ I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ You know, and after that, we started, jobs started rolling through. I started working with people like Jordan, Adidas, Nike, ASOS and Calvin Klein. I've worked with almost everybody.”
Despite the lucrative rewards of a modeling career that has already given Valle work with some of the biggest brands in the US, he insists that his true passion lies in the ring.
“I mean, for me, I'm going to ride it as long as it takes me,” he said. “You know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, boxing is my life. This is what I always wanted to do. So everything outside of this is extra, and I enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But at the same time, you know, if it hinders with this right here – this career – I don't want it.”
Modeling is a strange side hustle to choose considering few get out of the ring with no damage to their face. A flat nose and scarred eyelids are almost guaranteed for all those who choose to step through the ropes, and Valle revealed that his modelling career has given him extra motivation to protect his handsome face.
“I don’t want to get out the ring and be like, ‘Oh man,’ like – I don't want to look, I don't want my facial features to change,” he said. “I never thought about it before, but once I started modeling, I was like, ‘OK, all right. So something can happen, this can affect something else, so let's be a little bit more defensively sound,’ because I love to fight. I mean, my style is, you know, balls against the wall – go forward and fight. So I had to make some adjustments there.”
A career in the ring is short-lived. Few earn enough to ensure that they don’t have to work after they hang up their gloves. Valle, however, could have already ensured he has something to fall back on when that day inevitably comes.
“Anything extra that I can do outside of boxing, it's always a plus,” he said. “I don't have to ... as far as when I'm done with boxing, I have so much that I know I can do and that I want to do. So already having something in the back pocket, without even having to do too much to worry about – I couldn't ask for anything else.”
Dominic Valle is one of three fighting brothers. His older brother Marques Valle is an 11-1 middleweight; his younger brother Kenyan Valle made his professional debut on ProBox TV’s promotion in Lakeland, Florida, on August 15. All three brothers were set to feature, but Dominic’s opponent came in four pounds overweight and the bout was called off. It would have been the first time all three had boxed on the same show – a dream the brothers share.
“It's still on my bucket list,” Dominic said. “I trust God's ways, everything that he does for a reason. So at the end of the day, I'm like, ‘It is what it is.’ We'll see – maybe we'll do this on a bigger stage when we're fighting for world titles with each other. And that time right there will be the best time for us to really shine as a trio that we are. That's what I'm looking forward to.”
Although the trio did not get the chance to feature on the same boxing event, they have worked together on the runway before.
“A brand called Telfar in New York, they offered me – they wanted to do a collaboration with me,” Valle explained. “It's a huge brand, I love them over there at Telfar. They always help me out. They gave me and my brothers a big opportunity, where they had all three of us walk New York Fashion Week with them. So that was a dream come true. And the sky's the limit at that point.”
Tom Ivers is an amateur boxer who has a masters degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013, joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.
