By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico will be defending his title against Hiroshige Osawa this Saturday, November 6th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight is on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs Jessie Vargas bout and can be seen live on BoxNation in the UK and on pay per view in North America. Valdez’’s last outing was in July when he stopped Matias Rueda in two rounds for the vacant title while Osawa took on Yon Armed for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight title and stopped him in the first round.
The 31-year-old Osawa enters the ring with a record of 30-3-4 along with 19 Kos. However, his record maybe a little deceiving as he’s won eight straight fights by knockout and is undefeated in 16 bouts dating back to 2009. Osawa has fought just three times outside of his hometown of Osaka and has boxed 237 rounds since turning pro in 2004. He stands 5-feeet-7-inches tall, but has an unlisted reach. He’s obviously been on a roll when it comes to stopping opponents, but his overall knockout ratio is currently 51 per cent. He’s also been stopped once himself in his career and that came way back in 2005. The 25-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 20-0 with 18 Kos to his name.
He obviously has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 90 per cent. He’s just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach. He’s got 80 rounds of pro experience under his belt since making his debut in 2012. Valdez had a stellar amateur career and is the only two-time boxing Olympian from Mexico. He didn’t win a medal at the 2008 or 2012 Games, but won a dozen medals in other international competitions and had more than 200 amateur bouts. One of these included a loss to current WBO Junior Lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
As for Osawa, he hasn’t really fought anybody who the average boxing fan would recognize. This isn’t to say he’s been fighting stiffs, but all of his bouts have been in Asia against domestic opponents. Valdez hasn’t been fighting a steady diet of Grade A boxers, but has beaten the likes of Evgeny Gradovich, Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez, Alberto Garza and Ruben Tamayo. So far he’s had to go the distance just twice in his pro career. This was a 10-rounder against Tamayo last year and an eight-rounder against Juan Ruiz the year before.
Prediction…
Osawa appears to be in his prime right now, but there isn’t much known about him. He’s a good boxer with decent power and a solid chin, but will be meeting a younger opponent with exceptional power. Osawa should be able to hold his own for a while, but look for Valdez to retain his belt.
