Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KOs) says he wants his title shot next against WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis after defeating Chris Colbert by a sixth round knockout in their WBA title eliminator on December 16th.
Rayo, 24, believes he can knockout Tank Davis, and he wants that fight next. If not him, he wants to challenge for the WBA title against someone else. He wants his mandatory title shot.
Tank is expected to be the first fight for PBC on Amazon Prime in early 2024, but it’s believed that he’ll be defending against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in a rematch. Fans don’t want to see that fight, but it’ll be up to PBC if they want to go in that direction for an unpopular rematch.
Rayo feels he’s improved since his third round knockout loss to Edwin De Los Santos last year in September. That was a fight in which both guys were hurt, but De Los Santos took advantage of Rayo’s aggression to knock him out.
Rayo wants title shot against Tank
“I’m going to try to get this fight with Tank because I feel I deserve the title shot now, winning the [WBA] mandatory. I want to deal with the best. Pitbull didn’t want to fight me, so now I’m looking to fight Tank,” said Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela to Fight Hub TV about wanting a title shot against WBC ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next.
It would be surprising if Tank Davis gave Rayo a title shot. Even if it’s ordered, Tank may ignore it and fight someone else. If the World Boxing Association chooses to strip Tank, it won’t bother him because he’ll pick up another belt at 135.
“If he’s not there, then whoever they want to bring to me for the title shot, then that’s who I’ll take,” said Rayo. “That would be great. I would love a fight against Vasily Lomachenko. He’s a hell of a fighter. I’ve watched him a lot because he’s a lefty.
“I don’t know how possible that is because I’m on the other side of the street, but I would love that,” said Rayo.
Vasily Lomachenko is fighting former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. next. It’ll be up to Top Rank if they want to match Lomachenko against Rayo after that. They’ll probably try and persuade Lomachenko to challenge for the WBC lightweight title against Shakur Stevenson next.
“They say that because they saw the fight between me and Edwin [De Los Santos], but Edwin caught me. I wasn’t as focused. He taught me a hell of a lesson,” said Rayo about the boxing fans who say that he would be no match for Tank Davis due to his loss to Ewin De Los Santos and Chris Colbert.
“If I fought Tank, I’d fight him very smart. I’d have my feet under me, and the one thing you can never count out is power. I also have long reach. So, I’m a dangerous fighter, and it wouldn’t be an easy fight for him. I’ll tell you that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I knocked him [Gervonta] out.
“Definitely,” said Rayo when asked if he had the package to beat Tank Davis. “Edwin made me look bad when he knocked me out, but he took it with a price. In the next fight against Chris, I took a loss, but he took it with a price. In this last fight you saw the power I carry.
“So, a good camp for Tank, I can see myself beating him. Frank Martin, I respect him as a fighter. I would love to get in the ring with him too,” said Rayo.
