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Oscar Valdez relished the afterglow of having proven many skeptics wrong on Saturday night, as his KO victory over Miguel Berchelt was such a thorough and impressive performance as the new WBC junior lightweight world title list could have put together. .
After 10 rounds, most of which were spent dictating the fight in which direction he wanted to take it, Valdez again amazed the boxing world by sending a devastating punch in the face of Berchelt, which knocked out Berchelt and ended the fight in a second. left in the round.
Brett Okamoto and Michael Rothstein break down the night’s biggest moments in Las Vegas and project what will come next for both fighters, as well as the Top Rank Boxing schedule going forward. Ben Baby is also reacting to Adrien Broner’s return to the ring for the first time in nearly two years.
After the biggest victory of his career, what’s next for Oscar Valdez?
Rothstein: Valdez fought the perfect fight. An absolutely perfect fight. From the first round all Valdez did was one step ahead of Miguel Berchelt, ending him with a vicious knockout with a punch in the 10th round, a left hook in the middle of Berchelt’s face.
The way the fight ended sums up how Valdez fought all night. He dodged a punch from Berchelt, stood up and logged in to send Berchelt to the web.
It was a consistent combination of speed and effective landing hooks from Valdez throughout the night. The strategy knocked out Berchelt in the first two rounds, earned Valdez a knockdown in the fourth round, a second knockdown in the ninth and ultimately a knockdown in the 10th.
At that point, the only thing that would have kept Valdez from winning the title was a miracle from Berchelt (37-2-0, 33 KOs), who didn’t seem to have left much a round or two before that moment.
This victory strengthens the career of Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs), who now becomes defending champion in his second division after six defenses of the WBO featherweight world title. Now that he’s the title holder again, the new roster of WBC junior lightweight world titles has options.
Perhaps his next potential opponent was sitting at ringside. The fight for money for Valdez could very well be against Shakur Stevenson, the undefeated rising star who is also part of the Top Rank team of fighters. He’s also the WBC’s No. 2 ranked fighter in the division, so that might make sense from that perspective as well.
Congratulations champion @ oscarvaldez56 I respect what you did tonight surprised me .. It’s only 1 FIGHT to do now!
– Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) February 21, 2021
Stevenson-Valdez would be an interesting contrast of styles and a fight that could put fans in the seats around the middle of the year. Valdez was also open to it after the fight, even suggesting it in his post-fight interview.
This is the battle to be waged and seems to make the most sense in the immediate future. The other option, if Valdez decides he wants to try and start unifying the division, will be to watch the Jamel Herring-Carl Frampton fight later this spring and wait for the winner.
But even with that fight there, Stevenson seems to be the smarter way.
How did Berchelt lose and what is the next step for him?
Okamoto: Berchelt didn’t lose his title as much as Valdez took it from him. Let’s be clear right away. Valdez looked masterful from the start and Berchelt was stunned and fading in the fourth round, when Valdez put him on skates with a left and got his first knockdown. Valdez might have finished it there if the bell hadn’t come. Berchelt showed a lot of heart in the rounds that followed and tried to turn the tide with nothing more than pressure and power.
It was clear, however, that he had no answer, at least not on Saturday, for Valdez’s changes in speed and posture. Berchelt looked lost from the start. He never seemed comfortable with his counter strike, and more or less gave up on it after the fourth round when he engaged in a high pressure approach. At 29, he’s still one of the best junior lightweights in the world, but he will unfortunately have to prove that is still the case over the next year or so following a result like this. He will have to prove that the devastating nature of this loss does not change his ability to take a punch, nor his willingness to take a punch.
If and when he faces another fast and technical boxer like Valdez – or Vasiliy Lomachenko, whom he could have called if Saturday had gone differently – he will have to prove that he has learned from this disaster. He’ll likely need a comeback fight, an unranked opponent in the division’s top five. If all goes well, a title fight won’t be far away.
Maybe he’ll also consider an increase in weight, which would have been a post-fight topic as well had he won, but there’s no reason to think 130 pounds still can’t be a beautiful home for Berchelt. But there will be inevitable questions he will have to answer when he returns.
Boxing still needs fans
Okamoto: I was at ringside for tonight’s fight in Las Vegas. I thought it would be a night the fans would miss – I just thought it was due to a back-and-forth war, not a one-sided masterclass by Valdez. But regardless, the reality is the same. Boxing sorely missed its fans tonight.
There was a moment before the walkouts, when the MGM ballroom darkened and the house music kicked in. It was one of those moments that lets everyone in the building know the main event fighters are about to march. I’ve felt this feeling in a crowded arena hundreds of times, and I can’t even really say how strange it was on Saturday. It was so quiet you could hear one-on-one conversations going on in the room.
When the fighters walked in and they were announced – honestly, I think Top Rank does a good job of energy-building as much as you can – but it barely compares to an actual crowd. And of course the fight itself, when Valdez let Berchelt down in the fourth, and Berchelt was trying to fight his way to victory in subsequent rounds while still injured, a crowd would have added so much to that. . Hope we are close.
Top Rank believes Saturday was his last night in the bubble. The promotion intends to move to Florida and / or Oklahoma for its next events in April, and then return to Vegas in May – at a time when fans will hopefully be allowed to return.
Gabriel Flores Jr. finds big knockout as rising prospects end up on Berchelt-Valdez’s lower card
Rothstein: Gabriel Flores Jr. looked less than sharp. Jayson Velez landed a few punches and put together a few combinations. But then, in the sixth round, the 20-year-old Flores showed why he is considered a rising prospect in the junior lightweight division.
A right to Velez’s head knocked him down once. A flurry of punches ended the fight moments later, blocking an important victory for the Stockton, Calif. Native. It was a big showcase in the co-main event, catching fans who tuned in a bit early for this title fight.
The fact that Flores was able to organize a knockout – her first since a third round knockout by Eduardo Pereira Dos Reis on May 4, 2019 – was an added bonus, as it was only her second knockout in her last 14 fights. He showed some of the combined speed and power of Flores. After the fight, Flores said he “sent a statement that I am ready for a world title”.
It feels a bit soon for him, given the strength of the division. Beyond Berchelt and Valdez, there are also Shakur Stevenson, Leo Santa Cruz, Joseph Diaz Jr., Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, Jamel Herring and more in the division.
But it was an impressive performance which should give him a real chance against a top opponent. If Flores wins this bout, so maybe there will be a title shot in its near future, especially since the IBF belt is currently vacant.
The other two prospects on the undercard – junior welterweight Elvis Rodriguez (11-0-1, 10 KOs) and welterweight Xander Zayas (7-0, 5 KOs) – got rounds, which was essential for their two developments with Rodriguez at 12 pro fights and Zayas at seven pro fights and many short nights so far in their careers.
For Rodriguez in particular, this is the first time he’s come the distance in a fight and this fight should give him a fair amount of duct tape to work with as he works on improving some key elements of the ring. . Rodriguez admitted it after the fight against quite a match Luis Alberto Veron (18-3-2, 9 KOs), saying he had to go back to the gym and work on letting his hands go more.
These types of learning experiences can be beneficial a year or two down the road when the stakes get higher.
What did Saturday’s fight against Jovanie Santiago teach us about Adrien Broner’s current state?
Baby: Saturday night, it was Adrien Broner in a nutshell. He showed flashes in the ring against Jovanie Santiago in a unanimous but controversial decision. Broner landed 100 shots less than Santiago and once again seemed slow in the ring. And perhaps his most entertaining moments of the night came in the post-fight interview, when Broner’s boisterous personality clearly wasn’t rusty despite the lack of action.
In other words, it was Broner Peak. And at this point, that’s not enough to challenge anyone elite at 140 pounds, where they want to fight, and 147 pounds, where they actually fight.
Broner’s best moments came in the middle of the laps, including one in the eighth round when a Broner’s hook forced Santiago to do the splits and he came back inches from touching the canvas.
But Santiago rallied in Round 12 and made the fight close, to say the least. While there should have been a big rift between the two men, it wasn’t obvious on Saturday. And yes, Broner just had a long layoff, but when he ran out of weight by six pounds and the fight was changed to the welterweight limit towards the end of the fight week, his dedication to being in. form of combat is hard to believe.
With his win (with some very questionable scorecards including an inexplicable 117-110 from Peter Hary), Broner probably got at least one other big payday. At this point in his career, it’s probably the best he can ask for.
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