Shakur Stevenson obviously is a more complete fighter than Miguel Berchelt was in his prime.
Stevenson’s diverse skill set, which was fully displayed during his 10th-round stoppage of Jamel Herring in his last fight, has made him a heavy favorite over Oscar Valdez. Canelo Alvarez is still surprised Valdez’s doubters haven’t given him more respect in advance of the unbeaten WBC super featherweight champion’s title unification fight versus Stevenson.
The younger, skillful Stevenson is listed by most sportsbooks as at least a 5-1 favorite to defeat Valdez in a main event ESPN will air April 30 from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Berchelt was installed as a 4-1 favorite over Valdez ahead of their 12-round, 130-pound title fight in February 2021. Mexico’s Valdez dominated his countryman that night on his way to a vicious 10th-knockout knockout at MGM Grand Conference Center.
Alvarez, who is Valdez’s stablemate and friend, expects a much more competitive fight with Stevenson than the handicappers have projected.
“It’s gonna be a really good fight for both,” Alvarez said during a recent conference call with a small group of reporters. “It’s gonna be a difficult fight for both fighters. But Oscar have a lot of experience, have a really good training camp, so it’s gonna be a really good fight.”
Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) and Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) have been trained by Eddy Reynoso at their gym in San Diego for their challenging upcoming fights. Alvarez has moved back up to the light heavyweight division for his fight the following Saturday night, May 7, to battle unbeaten WBA 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Mexico’s Alvarez has his own fight on which he has remained focused, but he has noticed some of what has been said and written about the 31-year-old Valdez’s chances against Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs), a 24-year-old southpaw from Newark, New Jersey.
“I’m surprised about that because Oscar can do many things in the ring,” Alvarez said. “He always try to, ‘Oh, I’m gonna put on a show for the people and go forward and try to [go] in and out and take punches and throw punches.’ So, I say, ‘Oscar, this fight is gonna be different. You need to keep focus and win the fight, not to put on a show for the people. Because [Stevenson is] a really good, skilled fighter, moves around. So, if you go forward, he’s gonna do his fight. You’re gonna [make it] his fight. So, you need to be aware of everything and try to win the fight.”
In addition to Valdez’s WBC belt, he and Stevenson will compete for Stevenson’s WBO junior lightweight title. DAZN will stream the show headlined by the Alvarez-Bivol bout as its inaugural pay-per-view show ($59.99 for subscribers; $79.99 for non-subscribers).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
