By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico will be taking on veteran Jayson Velez of Puerto Rico in a 10-round jr. lightweight bout in Las Vegas this Tuesday, July 21st. The fight can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN Deportes while fans in Canada can see it on TSN 3 and 5. Valdez last fought in November when he stopped Adam Lopez in the seventh round. Velez was in the ring last in February when he dropped a 12-round split decision to Jamie Arboleda.
The 29-year-old Valdez has moved back to Mexico from Tucson, Arizona where he grew up, and enters the contest with a perfect record of with 27-0 with 21 Kos. He obviously has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 77.8 per cent, but he’s gone the distance in four of his last six bouts. He’s just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach. Valdez has 148 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. However he failed 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 world champion and pound-for-pound contender Vasyl Lomachenko. Valdez hasn’t been fighting a steady diet of Grade A boxers, but has beaten the likes of Scott Quigg, Jason Sanchez ,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 six times in his pro career, but as mentioned, he’s been taken the distance in four of his last six outings.
The 32-year-old Velez has a 2.5-inch height advantage and a two inch edge in reach as he’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch wingspan. He’s a fan-friendly fighter with good power and should try to use his size to catch Valdez with quick combinations to both the body and head whenever he gets within range. Velez will need to make sure he doesn’t go into the fight looking to end it with one punch though and needs to be wary of Valdez’s power.
Velez enters the bout with a mark of 29-6-1 with 21 Kos which gives him a current knockout ratio of 58.3 per cent. He turned pro in 2007 and has 215 rounds under his belt. He’s also been been beaten by Ryan Garcia, Alfredo Santiago, Rene Alvarado, Joseph Diaz, and Ronny Rios, all by decision. His lone draw came in an IBF World Featherweight title fight against former champ Evgeny Gradovich back in November of 2014.
Velez has an excellent chin and has never been stopped. His biggest wins have been against Victor Terrazas, Orlando Cruz, Juan Manuel Lopez, Alberto Mercado, Miguel Soto, Salvador Sanchez and Dat Nguyen. Since turning pro he’s captured the WBC USNBC, the WBC Fecarbox and interim WBO Latino Super Bantamweight Titles, the WBC Silver Featherweight Championship as well as the WBC Fecarbox, WBC Latino, and NABA USA Super Featherweight Crowns.
Prediction…
This fight will come down to chins and power and Velez may very well have a better chin but Valdez has the edge in power and boxing skills. They both have a ton of heart and this should be an entertaining tilt with Valdez winning a pretty close contest.
