Zuffa Boxing’s second installment is beginning to take shape.
Former 140-pound WBA titleholder
Jose Valenzuela will take on
Diego Torres in a 10-round lightweight bout on February 1 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas on Paramount+, Zuffa Boxing announced on Wednesday.
Valenzuela (14-3, 9 KOs) is looking to get his career back on track after dropping his title during a
one-sided unanimous decision defeat against Gary Antuanne Russell in March. “Rayo” Valenzuela, a 26-year-old southpaw from Mexico, has had an uneven ride in recent years, going 2-3 over his last five fights dating back to 2022.
Valenzuela suffered the first loss of his pro career by a third-round knockout against Edwin De Los Santos in September 2022. In the following fight in December 2022, Valenzuela dropped a controversial unanimous decision against Chris Colbert. But he avenged the loss in December 2023 by knocking out Colbert inside six one-sided rounds.
Valenzuela leveraged the win toward a title shot against
Isaac Cruz in August 2024 and seized the opportunity by outboxing Pitbull to a split decision win to become a beltholder. However, Valenzuela failed to defend the title against Russell.
Torres (22-1, 19 KOs) is a 28-year-old from Mexico who's built his record on home soil. Torres has fought only once outside of Mexico, and it resulted in the lone loss of his career against
Raymond Muratalla in November 2023. Torres has bounced back from the Muratalla defeat by securing four straight wins.
Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural show is set for Friday and is headlined by a 10-round middleweight matchup between
Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) and
Carlos Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs) as part of a three-fight card streaming on Paramount+ beginning at 9 p.m. EST.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring's lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.