Oscar Valdez stopped Miguel Berchelt with a thunderous knockout with one second left in Round 10 of their junior lightweight bout Saturday night.
Valdez, a 30-year-old from Mexico, was an underdog but bothered Berchelt, his 29-year old countryman, all night with his quickness and a relentless barrage of left hooks and jabs to claim the WBC super featherweight belt at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Valdez landed 50 more punches that Berchelt (149 to 99) and it showed, as many on Twitter were calling for the fight to be stopped before the final sequence that left Valdez — who had lost only one pro fight, in 2014 — sprawled on the mat.
This needs to be in the dictionary next to the phrase "knock out" 😱😱😱#BercheltValdez @ESPNRingside pic.twitter.com/RJ5TVMlrk6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 21, 2021
There’s that left hand again.
Berchelt stayed down on the canvas for several frightening minutes before being taken to a nearby hospital. A CT scan reportedly came back clear and he was expected to be released, according to his camp.
Waiting on an update from the hospital for Berchelt. My prayers are with him and his team. This reminded me of the Pacquiao KO in a way. 🙏🏼 #BercheltValdez pic.twitter.com/SmT99z8DFV
— Crystina Poncher (@CrystinaPoncher) February 21, 2021
We’re early in the year, obviously, but the Twitter hype train immediately dubbed this the knockout of the year. I’m not sure that we should be giving that title to a punch thrown at a clearly staggered fighter, but let’s look at some angles of this anyway.
🎥 That ringside view …
Take it all in. Just wow, @oscarvaldez56. 🇲🇽#BercheltValdez | #AndTheNew | ESPN pic.twitter.com/KBXolCcG41
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) February 21, 2021
GOOD. NIGHT. #BercheltValdez pic.twitter.com/yYmucKVxQv
— Brian Blake (@BrianOBlake) February 21, 2021
Here’s my favorite one. Slow motion makes you realize exactly how Valdez won against the bigger fighter:
LOOK AT THIS. OSCAR VALDEZ. #BercheltValdez pic.twitter.com/megnyXWRbq
— Talkin Hands (@TalkinHands101) February 21, 2021
Valdez, who was raised in Arizona, previously held the WBO featherweight title and is a two-time Olympian. His win moves him to 29-0 with 23 knockouts and sets up a potential fight with former American Olympian Shakur Stevenson, who won Silver in Rio and is 15-0 in his professional career.
Stevenson was in attendance last night:
Junior lightweight contender @ShakurStevenson in the house to watch #BercheltValdez 👀 pic.twitter.com/vR3928JvPM
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) February 21, 2021
And had one clear takeaway from that stunning win:
Congrats champ @oscarvaldez56 I respect what you did tonight surprised me.. It’s only 1 FIGHT to make now!
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) February 21, 2021
Valdez heard that Stevenson wanted to fight and said, “Let’s do it. I just want to keep on fighting and give the fans what they want.”