Stevenson: Canelo, Eddy Reynoso Pushed Valdez Into Fight; Don't Think He Really Wanted It

Shakur Stevenson is thankful that Oscar Valdez eventually agreed to fight him next.

Stevenson just isn’t sure Valdez deserves much of the credit for their 130-pound title unification fight coming together for April 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The skeptical Stevenson senses that Valdez felt pressured into taking their bout by those closest to the unbeaten WBC super featherweight champion.

“I just feel like he Mexican and he got people around him that’s just not gonna like allow him to keep acting like I’m not there, acting like I don’t exist,” Stevenson told BoxingScene.com. “I think that his team – Canelo, Eddy Reynoso and them guys – told him, ‘You need this fight. You gotta fight him. As a Mexican, we warriors. We don’t back down from no challenges.’ So, I think that played a major part.”

Nogales’ Valdez vacated the WBO featherweight title in 2019 and moved up to the 130-pound division, rather than making a mandated defense of that 126-pound championship versus Stevenson.

Valdez’s rival won the WBO belt Valdez relinquished and later moved up to the 130-pound weight class. Stevenson became a more appealing opponent to Valdez when Stevenson stopped Jamel Herring in the 10th round to win the WBO junior lightweight title October 23 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Even after he won one of boxing’s recognized 130-pound titles, Stevenson feels Valdez would’ve preferred to take a different path in his first fight of 2022.

“I feel like, more so, a lot of other people wanted the fight to happen,” Stevenson said. “And I feel like they kinda pushed him towards it. I don’t think he, truthfully, really wanted this fight.”

Bob Arum, whose company promotes Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) and Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs), discussed before and after Stevenson’s victory over Herring that he wanted to match Valdez against another Mexican boxer represented by Top Rank Inc. – Emanuel Navarrete. A Valdez-Navarrete fight would’ve required Navarrete (35-1, 29 KOs), who owns the WBO featherweight title, to move up from the 126-pound division to 130.

Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Newark, New Jersey, publicly questioned Arum’s motivation for trying to make Valdez-Navarrete. The former WBO featherweight champion was pleasantly surprised, though, when a deal was struck for him to battle Valdez.

“I’m just very appreciative,” Stevenson said. “I feel like I deserve this fight. I feel like I put the work in. I brought myself to this point and I just feel like it just needed to happen. I appreciate Bob, Top Rank and everybody who did whatever they had to do to make this happen.”

ESPN will televise the 12-round, 130-pound championship bout between Valdez, 31, and Stevenson, 24. Caesars Sportsbook lists Stevenson as nearly a 5-1 favorite over Valdez.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.