Oscar Valdez pulled a solid turn, even with late money coming at him Friday and Saturday, violently knocking out Miguel Berchelt at the end of the 10th round to win the WBC lightweight junior title.
Valdez not only knocked out Berchelt, however, he dominated that fight, boxing almost perfectly from start to finish, having a clear career performance in the biggest fight of his life, becoming champion of two divisions in the process.
The judges had Valdez (29-0, 23 KO) until 87-82, 88-81 and 89-80 when he hit a KO monster fired in the 10th round, just before the bell to finish the picture. Bad Left Hook made him win 88-81 as well.
Here are the highlights, including the finish:
Berchelt, to be clear, was definitely injured in the knockout, fell a few minutes, but got up and got up, was communicating, was taken off the stretcher and rushed to a hospital.
As for the fight, Valdez had a perfect plan here, and it was executed magnificently. He was faster, sharper, faster – he performed exceptionally well in this fight, and proved that a lot of people were wrong, no doubt.
“There is nothing better in life than proving that people are wrong. I had a list of people who doubted me. My idols doubted me. Boxing analysts doubted me, ”said Valdez. “They said Miguel Berchelt was going to knock me out. But I have a message to tell everyone: don’t let anyone say what you can and cannot do. Always work hard and be disciplined in life. Try to do your best, be disciplined and never let anyone say you can’t do something. Prove that they are wrong. “
Valdez credited his team and family for helping him achieve victory.
“It was not easy to train in a pandemic, but try to make your dreams come true,” he said. “Always train hard, do your best, always try to be number one. Nothing is impossible. My team was a big part of that. “
If you called the pissed off or were like most of us and imagined that Berchelt (37-2, 33 KO) would take this fight, you can do nothing but deeply respect what Valdez did here. He was, totally, the best man practically all night. He worked with a good, sharp and fast jab, kept Berchelt totally uncomfortable all the way, was smarter and faster and just the best fighter. Time course.
Gabriel Flores Jr TKO-6 Jayson Velez
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Mikey Williams / Top Rank Inc photo via Getty Images
20-year-old lightweight junior prospect Flores (20-0, 7 KO’s) is not known for his power, but he blinked some here in the sixth round, leaving Velez in a shot at the temple that made him pass his stinky leg when getting back to your feet.
The fight was basically over there, but blessed be Velez (29-8-1, 21 KO’s), he got up and played what he had in Flores. It didn’t last much longer, as Flores was happy to bite and shoot the veteran at that point, knowing that he could hurt him, and that he was already hurt. A left hook knocked down Velez, 32, for the second time, and referee Tony Weeks rightly canceled.
He said while rotating that Flores cannot really “impress” people, but this is a very solid victory for him, both for defeating a tough veteran and for stopping him. Vélez has only been stopped twice, in the last two fights (the other was Oscar Valdez last summer, and he gave Valdez a difficult night), and maybe his resistance is breaking down a bit, but this is a good result for the young man.
“I sent the statement that I am ready for a world title,” said Flores. “I hit him and he didn’t know he was being hit, so he got hurt. Not that I was overpowered, but he didn’t see the shot coming. That’s why I hurt you. I could have done this before. I was playing with my food. Pops told me I just need to press. Nothing was happening in those first five rounds, to be honest. I was feeling it. I should have felt it for just two rounds. “
Flores doubled down saying he is ready for a world title, specifically targeting the WBO belt.
“I’m ready for a world title shot,” he said. “I would love to have the winner of Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton. Each performance I will get better and better. I am chasing greatness. “
Undercard Results
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Mikey Williams / Top Rank Inc photo via Getty Images
- Dodge Falcao TKO-4 Artur Akavov: Falcao is 31 years old and won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, and talks about trying to compete for the title at the time, he talks a lot about anything, but he spent his entire seven-year professional career doing basically nothing of note. Akavov (20-4, 9 KO) challenged two middleweight belts twice, giving Billy Joe Saunders a tough night in 2016 and not giving Demetrius Andrade one in 2019, and he is by far the best opponent than Falcao (28- 0, 20 KO) has faced.
This result probably looks more special than it is, although I’m not saying it looks great anyway. It is a beautiful victory. Falcao was 39-37 on our unofficial card, it looked like he would probably win, but Akavov’s corner stopped the fight between the fourth and fifth rounds with a broken nose, and it wasn’t a super-broken broken nose or anything. I’m not saying he’s lying, just saying that no one was watching, like, “Oh, man, that guy’s nose is BUSTED.”
It would be nice if Falcao fought a legitimate competitor or something next time. It’s past time for him to take his shot.
- Elvis Rodriguez UD-8 Luis Alberto Veron: Valuable fight for Rodriguez, also valuable for considering Rodriguez as a prospect. He has been a “bubble” favorite especially for Top Rank, as he delivered outstanding knockouts and looked really strong, big puncher at 140. But Veron (18-3-2, 9 KO) was never stopped, and not yet was was interrupted, going a total of eight with Rodriguez (11-0-1, 10 KO’s), without ever getting into serious trouble.
Veron had the experience and the intelligence to make Rodriguez think much more than usual, but Rodriguez responded well by not being able to take a guy down too. He remained patient, worked without panicking at any time and won rounds instead of making big, overly aggressive mistakes. He took what he got from Veron, he didn’t force what wouldn’t be there. When Veron got a little tired, Rodriguez landed more and worked to get there.
“I think I had a lot of very good experiences. With each fight you get something different, and for this fight, I think the experience of going to the rounds helped me a lot ”, said Rodriguez through Bernardo Osuna’s translation. “I needed to release my hands a little more. When I did that, I was able to hurt him. But I think it was a great experience. He was never stopped, I knew it would be a challenge. “
- Xander Zayas UD-6 James Martin: Now 18, Zayas (7-0, 5 KO) was signed by Top Rank at 16, debuted at 17, and it’s a prospect that they really like a lot, which I think the first part makes obvious. After COVID attacked, he got busy last fall with some fights in Florida with All Star Boxing cards, but made his “bubble” debut in Las Vegas with this one, winning all six rounds against Philly’s Martin (6- 2, 0 KO) that never really threatened to win the fight, but proved to be a valuable test. Martin was able to take Zayas beyond the fourth round for the first time, went all the way with him, gave him some looks. Martin is a second generation fighter – his father is Jerry “The Bull” Martin, who was 25-7 from 1976-84 and twice fought for the WBC light heavyweight title – and he showed some skills and ability , giving the young prospect a useful fight.
- Javier Martinez TKO-1 Billy Wagner: I had seen Wagner (3-2, 1 KO) before, when he fought with the Matchroom prospect Alexis Espino in 2019. He took some good shots in that fight, disconnected, covered a distance of four rounds. Martinez (3-0, 1 KO) bombed him here, scoring a regulated knockdown and then submitting Wagner with a series of kicks against the ropes, forcing the referee to intervene. Wagner had his complaints, but nah, it was done, only thing for him to do from there was to get hurt. Martinez, a former national amateur standout, is a 25-year-old middleweight contender early in his professional career, not a big blue chip guy, but a 6’1 ”southpaw with a good skill base, it could be moved more quickly at some point if your team decides it clicked and it is ready to start stepping up some.
- Omar Rosario KO-2 Uriel Villanueva: A kind of audition for two young fighters, and Rosario (3-0, 1 KO) definitely looked like the fighter to potentially catch on, as the 23-year-old Puerto Rican exploded Villanueva (1-1, 0 KO), a Mexican-American 21, with a pair of knockdowns on the body in the second. Villanueva tried to fight from the first knockout, but Rosario went straight back and knocked out the count.