The knock on Oscar Valdez’s otherwise unblemished pro career heading into 2021 was his penchant for fighting up or down to the level of competition.
It still rang true in the past year, though it at least came with a career-defining performance and a second divisional title.
Valdez brought his A-game for a stunningly one-sided, tenth-round knockout of long-reigning WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt last February 20 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Fourteen months later, the two-time Mexico Olympian and unbeaten two-division titlist heads to the property’s main room at MGM Grand Garden Arena for a two-belt unification bout with WBO claimant Shakur Stevenson on ESPN.
“I’m feeling very excited just like I did for Miguel Berchelt because this is a tough fight,” Valdez told BoxingScene.com during a recent media conference call to discuss the highly anticipated bout. “Every time there’s higher competition, I rise to the occasion with the competition.
“We know Shakur Stevenson is a good fighter. We know he’s a good boxer. It’s just going to make us bring the best out of myself.”
Valdez (30-0, 23KOs) was at his best versus Berchelt, nabbing the type of signature win that was sorely absent from his three-year WBO featherweight title reign that struggled at times to move the needle. The high he enjoyed following his WBC title haul nearly came crashing down in his first title defense. Valdez overcame a drug testing scandal preceding his title defense versus Brazil’s Robson Conceicao, whom he barely outpointed in their ESPN headliner last September in his childhood hometown of Tuscon, Arizona.
The combination of out-of-ring distraction and perhaps not rising to the occasion versus Conceicao—a standout amateur and 2016 Olympic Gold medalist but unproven as a pro to that point—undoubtedly played a part in Valdez’s drop-off from his previous outing. There is no chance of being distracted from the opponent ahead of him on Saturday.
Many view the bout—the first unification bout among male 130-pound boxers since September 2005—as a potential coronation for Newark’s Stevenson (17-0, 9KOs), a 2016 Olympic Silver medalist who has been brilliant since turning pro in 2017. Stevenson captured Valdez’s old WBO featherweight title in a twelve-round shutout of unbeaten Joet Gonzalez in October 2019 and enters this bout as a strong betting favorite on the heels of a one-sided stoppage win of Jamel Herring to win the WBO junior lightweight title last October in Atlanta.
“I’m very focused for this fight,” acknowledged Valdez, who has trained alongside pound-for-pound king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and under head trainer Eddy Reynoso since October 2018. “The Miguel Berchelt fight was me at my best. The performance after that to end my year wasn’t the best.
“That’s just transforming into the fighter I am right now. Very focused, very concentrated. Physically and mentally prepared for this opposition. I’m ready to show everything we worked on to prepare for Shakur Stevenson and come home as the unified champion.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox