Oscar Valdez is ready to conquer what he views as a wide open junior lightweight division.
The need for a new king emerged on Shakur Stevenson outgrew 130 and left the WBC and WBO titles at the scales ahead of his win over Robson Conceicao last fall. His reign lasted barely eleven months, which include a decisive win over Valdez in their unification bout last April 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Emanuel Navarrete has since claimed the WBO 130-pound titlist, which he will attempt to defend versus Valdez in their all-Mexico battle this Saturday on ESPN from the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizon.
“This is my chance to come back from my loss to Shakur Stevenson, when I lost my title and my undefeated record,” Valdez told BoxingScene.com. “It’s something very personal that I have. I want to come back and make a statement.
“I want to show that losing your undefeated record it doesn’t mean the end of your career.”
Valdez (31-1, 23KOs) has fought just once since his lone career defeat. It came in a May 20 win over Adam Lopez in a rematch to their November 2019 battle which marked the 130-pound debut for the two-time Olympian. A former featherweight titlist, Valdez became a two-division champ after a punch-perfect, tenth-round knockout of countryman Miguel Berchelt in February 2021.
Just one successful defense followed before he lost to Stevenson in their unification bout last April.
A back injury prevented him from a ring appearance last November, with the hope that he would heal in time to face Navarrete for the vacant WBO title this past February 3 at the venue that will host this weekend’s highly anticipated clash. Valdez still hadn’t fully recovered and was limited to spectator as Navarrete survived the first knockdown of his career to drop and stop Australia’s Liam Wilson in the ninth round to become a three-division titlist.
A rust-shaking ten-round win Lopez saw Valdez back at full strength and with a quick turnaround in his bid to enter his third title reign. He doesn’t view a win as a foregone conclusion but firmly believes that he will deserve the top spot in a division that has seen all four major titles already change hands five times within the past twelve months.
“I always visualize myself as the best,” insisted Valdez. “It’s not that I’m arrogant and think that I’m better than anyone else. The reason I think like that is because I know the work I put in during training. I can’t train the way I do, waking up early and running the mountains the way I do, staying on my diet.
“I train the way I train to tell myself that I’m number one. I would never train this way just to tell myself that I’m the second best. I will always train this way to win and make a statement that I am the best at 130 pounds.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox