Former featherweight champion Oscar Valdez Jr.’s move up the scale is a risky step toward the very place he hopes to be. Harm’s way is often the only way for Valdez.
Valdez has been there before and is eager to return against the biggest danger posed at junior lightweight. Valdez (27-0, 21 KOs) is still pursuing a fight with Miguel Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs).
“We were going to fight May 9,’’ Valdez told ESPN Deportes. “But it was not the outcome. We are waiting. We know that we are 100 percent ready. There have been rumors. But we do not know exactly what’s taking so long for the fight to be confirmed.
“We are 95 percent certain that this is going to be done.’’
The feared Berchelt would be only the second fight at 130 pounds for Valdez, who got up from a second-round knockdown for a seventh-round stoppage of unknown Adam Lopez in his junior lightweight debut Nov. 30 in Las Vegas. The knockdown left questions about Valdez’s chances at the heavier weight, especially against Berchelt, probably the strongest fighter in the division.
Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian from Nogales on the border with Arizona, is best known for his bloody victory over Scott Quigg on a rainy night in an outdoor ring March 2018 in Carson California. Valdez suffered a broken jaw. He survived, winning a unanimous decision in one of the gutsiest performances of that or any other year.
Since then, his corner has changed. Eddy Reynoso, Canelo Alvarez’s trainer, is there instead of Manny Robles. A new trainer can teach new tactics. But instinct is hard to change. Throughout Valdez’s title reign at featherweight, his instinct was to brawl, which could prove to be his undoing against Berchelt.
But Valdez, a Top Rank fighter, wants the challenge anyway.
“I think Berchelt is the most dangerous fighter now, has more of a name and it’s a fight that can be easily done since he is with Top Rank,’’ said Valdez, who has never run from danger.