If any boxer is committed to inspecting the fine print of a contract, it’s Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela, the recent 140lbs world titleholder who has sued to get out of a managerial agreement and also switched head trainers during the past year.
Amid recent reporting by The Guardian’s Thomas Hauser on contracts being negotiated by the new Zuffa Boxing promotion, Valenzuela said his decision to join Zuffa and headline its Sunday lightweight main event against Mexico countryman Diego Torres Nunez at the Apex in Las Vegas seemed like common sense.
“I’m a fighter, man, and I feel like everything they offered made my job easier,” Valenzuela, 14-3 (9 KOs), told BoxingScene on Friday. “I’m going to be fighting three times a year. They’re paying me great. I’m fighting on Paramount+. I can still fight on a Ring Magazine card, and that’s where the pound-for-pound fighters are fighting. So what’s not to like about this?”
The card is a stepped-up version of Zuffa’s debut show from last week, and includes Ukraine’s former WBC interim 154lbs titlist Serhii Bohachuk, 26-3 (24 KOs), vs. Radzhab Butaev, 16-1 (12 KOs), and a light heavyweight bout between former belt holder Oleksandr Gvozdyk, 21-2 (17 KOs), and Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic, 29-3 (21 KOs).
Zuffa head Dana White told reporters at the promotion’s debut card last week that he was still sorting out details, including when Zuffa would start distributing its own belts to fighters (most likely, when it wins Congressional approval to do so and gets White’s close friend, President Trump, to sign a revised Muhammad Ali Act later this year).
But Valenzuela, 26, raises another point by mentioning his interest and ability to fight for The Ring belt, which currently is worn in Valenzuela’s previous division by WBO titleholder Teofimo Lopez Jnr, who will defend both straps Saturday night versus three-division champion Shakur Stevenson at Madison Square Garden.
The Ring belt charges no 3 per cent sanctioning fees, as the WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF do, and The Ring and Zuffa are backed by Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh.
Valenzuela is no longer ranked by any of the four sanctioning bodies, as White has said he would prefer not to work with them.
First things first for Valenzuela, as he and trainer Mario Rodriguez have plotted how to defeat the 28-year-old Nunez, 22-1 (19 KOs), whose lone loss is to IBF lightweight titlist and former Valenzuela gym mate Raymond Muratalla.
“I’ve seen a lot of film [on Nunez]. That was his only loss … and Raymond Muratalla is a guy who’s an elite fighter, obviously, having just beat [2021 Olympic gold medalist] Andy Cruz,” Valenzuela said. “This is a tough fight. I’ve got to be focused, and I’ve got to be ready.
“I’m very excited. I’ve been sitting down for a minute, itching to get back. And finally my time is here. To headline on Paramount+, to have the American fan base and people around the world watching, it’s going to be great.”
After winning the WBA 140lbs belt by dissecting power puncher Isaac ‘Pitbull” Cruz in Los Angeles in August 2024, Valenzuela lost the belt to active-punching Gary Antuanne Russell in March.
Valenzuela said the distraction of suing former manager Jose Benavidez Snr hurt his preparation for the fight.
“Gary Russell, he’s a worthy champion. It was a good experience. It is what it is: He’s a great fighter,” Valenzuela said. “Also, I know, I was in the middle of the fire with all that stuff, and not having experience in all that stuff, I threw on a bunch of weight, was walking around at 170 on fight night. It was obvious something was wrong with me. I was too slow and flat – that played a part. I took it as good experience, and take it into this fight."
Valenzuela is now represented by manager Rick Mirigian, whose fighter Vergil Ortiz Jnr is suing Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions in a separate case for breach of contract.
Mirigian, who admits his reputation in crafting contracts is “difficult,” said he has negotiated six separate contracts for his fighters with Zuffa, winning protections that he said have pleased him almost fully in each deal.
“There’s a lot that goes on behind closed doors," Valenzuela said. "That’s the reason I made the move to Zuffa. It takes away all the politics, the favoritism, this and that. I took my career into my own hands, started to see what it all was and started taking it into my own hands. I just want to fight, don’t want to worry about no bullshit. That’s why I’m here.”
Valenzuela said working to split with former promoter Premier Boxing Champions took up some time during this 11-month absence.
But as he viewed last week’s Zuffa card and watched the crowd get raucous during welterweight Julian Rodriguez’s Fight of the Night victory over Cain Sandoval, the energy over fighting again fully returned.
“My fight’s going to be explosive. That’s just my style – win, lose or draw,” Valenzuela said. “I’ve never had a boring fight. I’m going to blow the roof at the Apex.”
This week, Zuffa signed Edwin De Los Santos, who knocked out Valenzuela in 2022.
“I couldn’t help but think that’s something that could happen in the future,” Valenzuela said. “When I saw that, I couldn’t help but think everything happens for a reason – to make things right again.”
Bohachuk shares a similar sentiment as he returns from a surprising rematch loss to Brandon Adams, 36, on the September Terence Crawford-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez card in Las Vegas.
“I need to be stronger and think more,” Bohaschuk told BoxingScene. “I’m ready for this.”
He said the weight also bothered him last time out, so moving up to middleweight provides comfort and confidence.
“This time is better,” he said.
Bohachuk said he seeks to take the losses to Adams and current WBC interim belt holder Vergil Ortiz Jnr (a narrow defeat on the scorecards in 2024) and make himself better than Butaev.
“I had good experiences and good opponents, and now I have another [quality] opponent with a good style,” Bohachuk said. “It’ll be interesting. It’s a good fight. He’s from a different school – the European school. More technical, more thinking.”
With just one stoppage on the first Zuffa card, Bohachuk says he will look to please the crowd with a knockout.
“If he’s [not] ready, I can finish him,” he said.
The Zuffa middleweights were featured in the first card, with Callum Walsh and Misael Rodriguez notching victories. Bohachuk said he would approve a fight with Walsh, even though the pair are friends and former banner mates at Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions.
“Yes, I am interested in that. It doesn’t matter who. I want the best opponent, because if it’s the best, I can show my best,” Bohachuk said after blaming Walsh opponent Carlos Ocampo for zapping the energy from that main-event bout.
“It’s possible [to fight Walsh]. Friends can fight. It’d be an interesting fight for the fans. I want to show my fans interesting fights with good, strong opponents.”
Bohachuk said he has allegiance to Zuffa thanks to executive Loeffler.
“Trust … I, [for a] long time, worked with Tom Loeffler. That’s why I’m here. I trust him and Zuffa Boxing. They care for me, for everything – food, clothing, training,” Bohachuk said after The Guardian story documented the extent of control Zuffa has over fighters.
“They care for boxers. It’s a big, interesting promotion that could become the No. 1 promotion.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
