By Jake Donovan
A fresh face appears on Telefutura's Solo Boxeo circuit tonight, as bantamweight contender Alejandro Valdez faces Anyetei Laryea in a ten-round main event, to air live from Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL (8PM ET/PT, 7PM local time).
It's the first Telefutura headliner for the Mexican southpaw, and only his fourth fight overall in the states. Half of that tally will have come in the Windy City after tonight's fight, having previously scored an impressive 7th round stoppage of Samuel Lopez in late 2006.
Valdez (20-2-1, 15KO) is presently ranked by all four major sanctioning bodies, even though Laryea represents a significant step up in competition.
Some familiar names have graced the southpaw's resume, including wins over former multi-division titlist Mauricio Pastrana and current fringe junior bantamweight contender Cecilio Santos, who recently gave Dimitry Kilirov all he could handle before being forced to settle for majority draw. But it was Valdez' stoppage win of Lopez that first caught the attention of boxing fans, or at least those who bother to follow the action in the lower weights.
It certainly left a lasting impression on the promoter of tonight's card, 8 Count Production's Dominic Pesoli.
"Valdez really won over the Chicago fight fans with his stoppage of Lopez at the end of 2006," says Pesoli. "He's got great skills and very well could be a future champion."
Nobody would've given it a second thought in 2004, when Valdez stumbled out to a 5-2 start just seven months into his pro career. Instead, he rededicated himself to the sport, and found a promoter (Promociones Box Latino) willing to develop his career rather than pimp him out to anyone in need of an opponent-type.
The results speak for themselves; Valdez hasn't lost in 16 fights (15-0-1, 10KO) and is rapidly emerging as one of the few bantamweight contenders to fight in North America, Abner Mares and Luis Perez being two others on an otherwise very short list.
Over the course of his 3+ year win streak, the Mexican beanpole – at 5'8", considerably taller than most at or around his weight class – has also shown there's more to his game than the brawler his early handlers forced him to become. With each fight, Valdez develops more and more into a boxer/puncher, to where delivering a boxing exhibition in a distance fight has become just as rewarding as an early round knockout.
While an improvement over his past couple of opponents, Anyetei Laryea (17-4, 8KO) looks to be the perfect opponent for Valdez to further showcase his superior boxing skills.
A native of Ghana, Laryea isn't unlike his countryman Ben Tackie in that he performs lights out against fighters who remain well within his punching range, but usually does well enough to fall just short when he steps up in competition. The closest he boasts to a notable win came against bantie journeyman Alex Baba in 2003. All four of his losses have come against opponents favored to beat him, including former titlist Ivan "Choko" Hernandez in California just over a month ago.
The Hernandez bout was Laryea's first in the states. Assuming Valdez fights like a man who wants to maintain, if not improve upon, his alphabet rankings, the Ghanaian seemingly gets his second loss in as many fights in America.
With another win, Valdez gets some much needed exposure and gives the top bantamweight players something to think about as he guns for a title shot, possibly by this time next year.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .