By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico will be defending his title against once-beaten Scott Quigg of England this Saturday, March 10th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The 12-round fight can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN Deportes while fans in the UK can see it on Sky Sports. Valdez’s last outing was in September when he beat Genesis Servania by a unanimous decision. Quigg last fought in November when he beat Oleg Yefimovych by a sixth-round TKO.
The 27-year-old Valdez recently moved back to Mexico from Tucson, Arizona where he grew up, and enters the contest with a perfect record of with 23-0 with 19 Kos. He obviously has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 83 per cent, but has gone the distance in his last two bouts. He’s just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach. Valdez has 111 rounds of pro experience under his belt since turning pro in 2012. He had a stellar amateur career and is the only two-time boxing Olympian from Mexico, but didn’t manage to win a medal at the 2008 or 2012 Games in Beijing and London.
Valdez did win a dozen medals in other international competitions though and had more than 200 amateur bouts. One of these included a loss to current WBO Junior Lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko. Valdez hasn’t been fighting a steady diet of Grade A boxers, but has beaten the likes of Miguel Marriaga, Hiroshige Osawa, Evgeny Gradovich, Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez, Alberto Garza and Ruben Tamayo. So far he’s had to go the distance just four times in his pro career, but as mentioned, he’s now been taken the distance in two straight outings.
The 29-year-old Quigg has an impressive record of 34-1-2 along with 25 Kos. He’s a former
WBA Super Bantamweight Champion who lost his title to Carl Frampton by close split decision in February of 2016. Quigg reportedly fought with a broken jaw from the fourth round on. Quigg has about a three-inch height advantage at 5-foot-8, but his reach is unlisted. He turned pro back in 2007 and has fought 186 rounds since then. He’s also a solid puncher like Valdez and currently owns a 68 per cent knockout ratio.
Most North American fans won’t be familiar with Quigg’s list of opponents other than Frampton and Kiko Martinez as they’ve mainly been from Europe and Asia. Quigg underwent hand surgery in the past, but it didn’t show in his quick stoppage of Martinez when he stopped him in the second round in July of 2015. Both Quigg and Valdez have been dropped before, but they still have solid chins to go along with good boxing skills and power.
Prediction…
Valdez is a solid boxer with a good arsenal of punches, but his power hasn’t really been evident in the last couple of fights. He’s a fan-friendly boxer and the StubHub Center is well known for it’s crowed-pleasing brawls. Quigg’s taller and also a solid performer with some power, so this should be a pretty competitive contest. It should be entertaining, but I think Valdez will just pull it out.
