WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez and WBO champion Shakur Stevenson meet in a unification bout on Saturday night

Oscar Valdez 31 years old he’s 5’6” with a 66” reach and a record of 30-0 with 23 knockouts. From Nogales Mexico Valdez began his amateur career at 17 years old winning the youth world boxing championships the following year and going on to win the world amateur championships the Pan am games as well as qualifying for the 2008, and 2012 Olympics though he was eliminated in both semifinals. After compiling a record of 29-7 he made his pro debut on November 3, 2012 with a third round knockout of Angel Prada. In his first two years he went 9-0 with 9 knockouts before winning the vacant NABF super featherweight belt then won his next 9 with 7 knockouts before defeating Argentina’s Matias Rueda via second round tko to claim the vacant WBO featherweight title. After a seventh round stoppage of Hiroshige Osawa and decisions over Miguel Marriga and Genesis Servania he took on former champion Scott Quigg in March of 2018. In a brutal back and forth slugfest that saw 1,509 punches thrown Valdez was able to retain his title with a unanimous decision despite requiring his jaw to be wired shut after the bout. Following that fight he left longtime coach Manny Robles for celebrated trainer Eddie Reynoso in an attempt to tighten up his defense and avoid the savage brawls that he’d been engaging in since becoming champion. He defended his belt twice more with a seventh round stoppage over Carmine Tommasone and a unanimous decision over Jason Sanchez before moving up to super featherweight and scoring brutal knockouts over Adam Lopez and Jayson Velez. He then challenged old amateur rival Miguel Berchelt for his WBC title with the original date being pushed back two months after Berchelt contracted COVID 19. On February 20, 2021 Valdez put on a clinic despite being a heavy underdog dropping Berchelt in the fourth and tenth rounds before landing a thunderous walk off counter left hook that left the champion unconscious for several minutes. Seven months later he took on top contender Robson Conceicao and despite testing positive for PEDs the fight was allowed to go on with Valdez taking over midway through the fight after a slow start to pull out a close and controversial decision. A hard punching pressure fighter who boasts a 77 percent knockout rate Valdez likes to wear his opponents down with a constant onslaught of body shots and uses a solid jab and excellent lateral movement to set up his huge left hook.


Shakur Stevenson 24 years old he’s 5’8” with a 68” reach and a record of 17-0 with 9 knockouts. From Newark New Jersey he was taught to box at the age of 5 by his grandfather. A decorated amateur Stevenson won the AIBA youth world championships and in 2016 won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics losing in the final to Cuba’s Robesy Ramirez. After amassing an amateur record of 56-2 he signed with Top Rank in 2017 with Andre award as his manager and made his professional debut with a technical decision. After winning his first 9 with 5 knockouts he defeated Jessie Rosales via fourth round tko to win the vacant WBC continental featherweight title. After a third round blowout of Alberto Guevara he won a unanimous decision over Joel Gonzalez for the vacant WBO featherweight belt. In June of 2020 he knocked out Felix Caraballo with an uppercut to the body and followed that up with a unanimous decision over Taka Khan Clary. After a lackluster and heavily criticized decision over the unheralded Jeremiah Nakathila he had a career defining victory when he put on a dominant virtuoso performance against Jamal Herring giving the champion a thorough and brutal beating en route to a tenth round stoppage to claim the WBO super featherweight title. One of the fastest rising stars in the sport Stevenson is one of the most technically proficient fighters in boxing possessing lightning fast hands thrown from the southpaw stance and is a highly aggressive counter puncher.

Will the relentless pressure and powerful body attacks of Valdez be enough to overwhelm the young champion or will Stevenson’s fast counters and slick style prove too much as he tries to stake his claim as one of the best in the sport? Tune in Saturday night and let’s find out