Not even a pandemic will deter Oscar Valdez from moving forward with his 2020 plan.
“My goal is to become world champion this year,” insists the unbeaten former featherweight titlist. “That’s where all of my focus is, winning the fights in front of me and moving toward winning that second world title.”
Prior to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the plan for Valdez (27-0, 21KOs) heading into this year was a straightaway shot at reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) junior lightweight titlist Miguel Berchelt (38-1, 34KOs). Those springtime plans were decimated along with the rest of the boxing schedule from mid-March until Top Rank—which promotes Valdez and co-promotes Merida, Mexico’s Berchelt along with Zanfer Promotions—was able to get back up and running with closed-doors events at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
It is where Valdez will appear on Tuesday evening (ESPN, 8:00pm ET), as he faces Puerto Rico’s Jayson Velez (29-6-1, 21KOs) in a 10-round main event at the junior lightweight limit. The bout will mark the second at the weight for Valdez, a 29-year old from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico who made six defenses of his featherweight title over a three-year stretch before abandoning his reign in the second half of 2019.
The decision to move up to 130 came in part due to feeling more comfortable campaigning at a higher weight. Additionally, there existed the opportunity to take on the division’s longest-reigning active titlist in Berchelt, who has made six defenses of the WBC title he claimed in an 11th round knockout of Francisco Vargas in January 2017.
Berchelt did his part to advance plans for their head-on collision, scoring a 6th round stoppage of countryman Eleazar Valenzuela three weeks ago in Mexico City. The bout was a mismatch going in and pretty much the same in real time.
Valdez is favored in Tuesday’s headliner though facing a far more formidable opponent in Velez, a former title challenger who has proven to be—at the very least—a serviceable gatekeeper at the weight.
“I still had another three weeks go when Miguel Berchelt fought, so I had time to sit back and dissect his performance,” notes Valdez, who wasn’t impressed with what he saw—though with exception. “[Valenzuela] didn’t bring much to the table and wasn’t really that tough. We’ve seen Miguel Berchelt fight (up) to his level of opposition and look a lot better than he did that night.
“I have a far tougher challenge ahead. Jayson Velez is here with big dreams just like me. I have to win this fight to get to Miguel Berchelt. For Jayson Velez, this is his opportunity to get another big fight. I don’t underestimate any opponent because I know they always get up for me.”
It was a lesson Valdez learned the hard way in his most recent performance, stopping Adam Lopez in seven rounds last November. The bout came about shortly after the official pre-fight weigh-in the day prior, when originally scheduled opponent Andres Gutierrez was so far over the weight limit that Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum kicked his entire team out of the fight hotel.
Lopez stepped in on less than 24-hours’ notice and gave Valdez a major scare, flooring the unbeaten boxer early and going tooth and nail before Valdez was able to rally and force the stoppage. It was baptism by fire at a new weight for the former champ, who immediately went back to work with trainer Eddy Reynoso, with whom he is working for his fourth fight.
The work has spanned nearly six months and 1,400 miles from San Diego to Nogales to Guadalajara. It’s the most the team has traveled since joining forces in late 2018, and the longest camp together given all of the delays in the boxing schedule.
“We just used it to our advantage,” Valdez says of the ongoing global health crisis and the conditions that come with it. “This is our fourth camp together and—I’m not just saying this, I mean it because we’ve been training so long—this is the most improvements and progress I’ve seen. My counters are getting better. My punches feel so much sharper.
“The mentality I have going into every day I step into the gym and work with Eddy is that there is always something to learn. If anything, it’s been easier for me this camp because there isn’t anything else to do. Training camp for me is usually just going to the gym and going home. This time, there’s been a lot more going to the gym since we were basically training for two separate fights.”
The payoff is expected to come Tuesday evening and then again soon thereafter. A win by Velez will put the process in motion to secure one of the more attractive matchups to be made in the second half of 2020.
“That’s one of the reasons I really wanted to fight Miguel Berchelt for my first championship fight at 130,” insists Valdez. “It’s a fight the fans really want to see because it’s the best fighting the best. You look at this division and the champions. Joseph Diaz, Leo (Santa Cruz), Jamel Herring—the toughest one out of them all is Berchelt. I want to beat the best there is, and he’s the best.
“Second, he has that green belt, the WBC belt that all of the legends have held (since its creation in 1963). I was proud to hold the WBO world title at featherweight, but this is a big reason why I was ready to move to 130, to get this fight with Berchelt and bring home that WBC title, the one I’ve always dreamed of holding since I was a little kid.”
Of course, there still stands the pesky matter of taking care of present day business.
“I know what Jayson Velez brings to the table,” admits Valdez. “He has a few losses, but is still a tough fighter and his last fight (a disputed points loss to unbeaten Jaime Arboleda this past January) showed what he’s still capable of at this level.
“From now until the end of our fight, Jayson Velez is all that’s on my mind. I’m also confident of the work we put in while in the gym. We’re gonna go in there, get that win and then go for the WBC title.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
