Jose Valenzuela ‘hungrier than ever’ ahead of his challenge of Isaac Cruz

Jose Valenzuela had heroes he looked up to while he was growing up.

The irony is one of those heroes could be the key to winning a world title belt, and putting an exclamation point on overcoming personal issues outside the ring.

Valenzuela will challenge Isaac Cruz for the WBA junior welterweight title Saturday night at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The 12-round bout will precede the main event bout between Ring welterweight champion Terence Crawford against WBA world junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov.

Both fights will stream live on multiple platforms, including PPV.com and DAZNBoxing PPV (4 p.m. ET/ 1 p.m. PT).

The southpaw Valenzuela (13-2, 9 knockouts), who is originally from the boxing hotbed of Los Mochis, Mexico and now resides in Renton, Washington, began working with trainer Robert Garcia earlier this year after previously working with Jose Benavidez. Valenzuela has trained out of the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside, California for the last several months, including for his last fight, which was a knockout win over Chris Colbert on December 16.

Valenzuela has seen a significant improvement in working with Garcia, and sparring some of boxing’s current top fighters.

“It’s an honor to be here,” Valenzuela told The Ring after a recent workout at Garcia’s gym in Riverside. “I used to watch Robert a lot when I was little. I used to have pictures and posters of him and the world champions he trained. (Fighters like) Nonito Donaire, (Brandon) ‘Bam Bam’ Rios, Mikey Garcia. It’s crazy that now I have the opportunity to make it on his wall (of champions). Him being a legendary trainer, teaming up with my team is a dream come true. I feel very good and blessed to be here.

“(I’ve seen improvements in) my fundamentals, my feet, my hands, all put together, Just experience overall. Little things maybe. Not being so reckless. Being more precise. Distance, also. I say those are the main keys.”

The knockout win over Colbert was a rematch of their previous fight on March 25 of last year, when Colbert overcame a knockdown to win a razor-thin unanimous decision.

Valenzuela also needed to have surgery two weeks before the first Colbert fight after going through an unspecified incident, which he says prevented him from being at 100 percent. Prior to the loss to Colbert, Valenzuela was knocked down multiple times en route to a knockout loss to Edwin De Los Santos.

Coupled with recent losses, Valenzuela had personal issues he was dealing with and was hanging around with the wrong crowd. After moving on and nixing his association with those people, Valenzuela believes he is now 100 percent mentally ready. Valenzuela also felt a sense of relief and satisfaction after the win over Colbert in the rematch.

“(The win) meant everything to me at the moment because I was coming off a tough loss with Edwin De Los Santos,” said Valenzuela, who goes by the nickname ‘Rayo’ or lightning in Spanish. “I didn’t have a good mentality (going into the fight). I was being immature. I wasn’t around people I needed to be around. I could’ve lost everything. To train really hard my whole camp, and then have an accident in the end, have to get surgery, barely make it to the fight, fought my heart out and to get robbed. I was given another opportunity, so I trained like never before. I made the decision to come here, and it paid off. It meant everything to me at the moment. This fight means everything to me now.

“It was more outside of the ring. It wasn’t so much (inside of it). I didn’t really prepare. I wasn’t focused. I wasn’t around (the) right people. Also, (De Los Santos) was a last minute replacement. I didn’t care to check who he was. My head was high. I learned a lot outside the ring. I think it was a great experience (for me). It made me a better person overall.”

Valenzuela will face a fighter in Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs), who won the WBA title by stopping Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romer in round 8 of his last bout on March 30. Cruz, who resides in Mexico City, has won his last four fights since a close decision loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in December 2021.

Despite taking a significant step up in opposition against Cruz, Valenzuela is confident he has the improved skill-set and preparation to pull off the upset win and capture the title Saturday night.

“I think I have a lot more advantages (than Cruz),” said Valenzuela. “I have speed. I have power. I have footwork, ring generalship, (and) height. I got to go in there that night (being) disciplined and using it.

“We know what he’s going to do. There’s no secret. He’s not going to change it up. He knows what he does. We know what he does. He’s not a crazy mystery box that we have to figure out. It’s just being prepared for his style and we’re extremely prepared. I just got done sparring 12 rounds (with) three different fighters (on July 19). I carried my conditioning all the way through. I carried my power all the way through. I’m in great shape and I’m ready to shock the world.”

Having overcome the obstacles he has encountered, and personal issues when he was younger, Valenzuela believes the icing on the cake would be to win the world title belt.

“It would mean everything to me. This is just bigger than these last few things I’ve been going through these last few fights. This means going back to when I started, my parents struggled a lot to get me here. I used to come home to (them) receiving eviction letters, going to get gifts at the food bank, seeing the pain (in my parents) and almost losing it all because I was distracted.

“I’m hungrier than ever. And Pitbull is a great fighter. I wouldn’t want a title shot against anyone else because ‘Pitbull’ (Cruz) will bring the best out of me.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com

Follow @FSalazarBoxing

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