SAN ANTONIO – It’s all the way back to the drawing board for Patrick Teixeira.

A fourteen-month ring absence following his title losing effort ended in disaster for the former WBO junior middleweight titlist, who was disqualified in the second round versus Mexico’s Paul Valenzuela. A left hook landing on the base of Valenzuela’s skull was deemed by referee James Green as an intentional foul, producing the shocking end at just 0:16 of round two in their preliminary bout Saturday evening at Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Brazil’s Teixeira (31-3, 22KOs) hadn’t fought since losing his title to Argentina’s Brian Castano last February, patiently waiting on a fight date and for Golden Boy Promotions to finalize an opponent for this bout. One didn’t come until earlier in the week, when the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration approved Valenzuela (27-11, 17KOs), though with the Mexican requesting the fight take place at super middleweight.

Terms were agreed to, only to end horribly for Teixeira who was in control until the fight-ending infraction. Teixeira tried to position himself to land a right hand, only for the two become entangled. An effort to fight his way out of a clinch saw Teixeira pivot and attempt to reach around with a left hook only for it to land behind Valenzuela’s head.

Valenzuela immediately fell to the canvas, where he remained until the referee and the ringside physician ruled that he was no longer fit to continue. The sense was that the late-assigned opponent was looking for a way out of the fight, as reflected in the disapproval of the crowd who booed the Mexican journeyman as he made his way out of the arena. 

Teixeira suffers his second straight defeat, having not won since his twelve-round decision over Carlos Adames to claim the interim WBO junior middleweight title in November 2019. He received an instant upgrade to full titlist, only to endure two separate postponements in a mandatory title defense versus Castano, who dethroned Teixeira and is set to face lineal/WBC/WBA/IBF champ Jermell Charlo in their undisputed championship rematch May 14 in Carson, California.

Valenzuela-Teixeira topped the preliminary undercard preceding the four-fight DAZN telecast. Headlining the show, Victorville, California’s Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) returns to the ring—and to Texas—for the first time in 15 months, as he faces Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15KO) in a scheduled 12-round battle of lightweight contenders.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox