Oscar Valdez Gains Added Motivation From Rising Status
By Francisco Salazar
Oscar Valdez can deal with fighting before unfamiliar faces across the country and Mexico. He has yet to fight before familiar ones near Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, where he currently resides.
That will change Saturday night when he finally gets to fight as a pro in the town he grew up in.
Valdez will fight Ernie Sanchez at the Convention Center in Tucson, Ariz. The 10 round featherweight bout, along with the welterweight bout between Jose Benavidez and Sidney Siqueira, will air on UniMas, beginning at 11 p.m. ET/ PT.
In his last bout on Sep. 11, Valdez (17-0, 15 KOs) scored the biggest victory of his career thus far, dominating and ultimately stopping former world title challenger Chris Avalos in the fifth round.
“In the (Ruben) Tamayo fight (on Jun. 27), I learned that I'm not going to always knock out my opponents,” Valdez told Boxingscene.com in a recent interview. “In the Avalos fight, it was a new experience where I went in there and expected to go the distance, but it was the other way around. In the Tamayo fight, I thought it was 50-50 where I could get the knockout.”
Rather than keep him on the shelf until next year, Top Rank made the decision to keep Valdez active and ride the momentum of the win over Avalos.
He will do so in Tucson, where he grew up as a child before moving to Nogales, which rests on the United States-Mexico border. Valdez had inquired to Top Rank about fighting in the Tucson area, as he still has family and friends in the area and it is less than an hour’s drive from Nogales.
Valdez (17-0, 15 KOs) cannot wait to step inside the ring on Saturday night.
“It's the perfect experience for me due to the fact that my whole family is going to be there,” Valdez told RingTV in a recent interview. “I have family members coming from Ohio. My Mom is going to be able to be there. My Grandma. It's more motivation for me. Nogales is only 40 minutes from Tucson, so I have a lot of friends coming to see my fight. They'd been asking me (about when I would fight in Tucson), and I told them that it wasn't up to me. Now that I'm fighting in Tucson, it's more motivation.”
He will be facing Ernie Sanchez, who has faced formidable prospects, including the likes of Andres Gutierrez and Rey Vargas. He was victorious in his last bout on Sep. 19, defeating Ji Hoon Cha by knockout in the first round. The win snapped a four-bout winless streak.
While some fighters could be distracted by fighting in their hometowns, Valdez does not let that faze him.
“It's no added pressure,” said Valdez, who is managed by Frank Espinoza. “I've learned to deal with pressure. I'm confident in the job I do in the gym. I have a great team. We all do a great job in the gym and I think it'll show on Dec. 12.
“(With regards to Sanchez), I expect the best Ernie Sanchez. I prepare myself to fight the best in every fighter (that I face). I take no fighter lightly. I've seen him fight before. He likes to move around a lot. He has that typical Filipino style where he likes to hit and not get hit. I'm in real good shape. I've been in the gym for a long time preparing for this fight. I'm expecting to see the best Ernie Sanchez and I'll give my best on (Dec. 12).”
Valdez has come into his own as a pro, but the roots of his fighting style are traced to his amateur days. The 24-year-old represented Mexico in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, and while he did not medal, the experience he took away was valuable.
His true passion for the sport was injected as a youth. Growing up, he would sit in front of the television, watching live boxing of some Mexico’s greatest fighters of the last 20 years.
It is something that Valdez still carries inside of him today.
“It motivates me a lot. It's my dream. Ever since I was a kid, I would see (Oscar) De La Hoya, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Juan Manuel Marquez. I grew up watching these fighters. I always wanted to be that Mexican star. I've always dreamed about that. Every night, I always pictured myself being a champion and the next star. I'm not going to stop until I do it. I just want to keep improving from each fight.”
“It's a dream come true. Ever since I was a kid, I used to watch these big (network) shows and I always dreamed about being that one big boxer, where everyone looks at that fighter in the spotlight and hopes he win.”
With Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez currently being the face of boxing in Mexico, one wonders whether Valdez could one day attain that goal.
It is not a far-fetched idea, considering Valdez has all the tools to accomplish this. He does not intend for anyone or anything interrupt or disrupt his goal of winning a world title and being the face of Mexican boxing.
“Right now, it's happening. Every time I go back home, I see that love from my people and they tell me, 'I'm the next Mexican star.' That just motivates me. It's no pressure to me at all. It's more motivation for me. I've learned to deal with pressure with the Olympics. I have confidence in what I do and we train hard in the gym and expect to win.
“I've learned from each fight. I've learned something. I feel like I get better in every fight. Hopefully I keep improving in each fight. Just keep moving forward.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
