By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC and Super Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico will be defending his title for the first time this Friday, Sept. 10th when he takes on undefeated Robson Conceicao of Brazil. The 12-rounder from Tucson, Arizona can be seen live in America on ESPN + and ESPN Deportes while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports. Valdez, a former WBO Featherweight Champion won the super featherweight belt the last time out in February when he stopped Miguel Berchelt in the 10th round after also dropping him in the fourth and ninth stanzas. Conceicao last fought in April when he stopped Jesus Antonio Ahumada in the seventh round.
The 30-year-old Valdez fights out of America and enters the contest with a perfect record of 29-0 with 23 Kos. He obviously has better-than-average power as well with a knockout ratio of 79.3 per cent, but he’s gone the distance in four of his last eight bouts. He stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach champion Valdez has 168 rounds of experience under his belt since turning pro in 2012.
Valdez 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. He 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 and he was also beaten by Conceicao in the gold medal match at the Pan American games 12 years ago.
Valdez hadn’t exactly been fighting a steady diet of Grade A boxers until meeting Berchelt as he had wins over Scott Quigg, Jason Sanchez, Miguel Marriaga, Hiroshige Osawa, Evgeny Gradovich, Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez, Alberto Garza and Ruben Tamayo but he was almost perfect when taking the crown from Berchelt.
Conceicao is now 32 years old and is best known for winning a gold medal at the 2018 Olympics in his homeland as a lightweight. He also competed at the 2012 Olympics in London, England where he was beaten by Josh Taylor in his first contest and fought at the 2008 games in Beijing, China where he was also beaten in his first fight.
He also competed in several World Amateur Championships and dropped a close decision to Vasyl Lomachenko in 2011. Conceicao’s gone 16-0 as a pro with 8 Kos for a 50 per cent knockout ratio. He stands just over 5-feet-10 inches tall with a 70-inch reach which gives him a five-inch edge in height on Valdez as well as four inches in reach.
Conceicao hasn’t fought any legitimate contenders as a pro so will be taking a step up in class against his old foe this weekend. The Brazilian’s biggest wins so far have been against the likes of Luis Coria, Carlos Ruiz, Edgar Cantu, Joey Laviolette and Eduardo Pereira Dos Reis. He has a decent chin but was dropped in the second round by Coria last year.
Prediction…
This fight is filled with intrigue and controversy as Valdez hopes to avenge his amateur defeat to Conceicao but the champion also tested positive last week on a drug test for the banned substance phentermine which is considered to be a performance-enhancing drug. However, as of today the fight is still on unless Conceicao decides to pull out. Valdez proved he was the real deal with power and speed against Berchelt, but fans may now question whether he was juiced in the past. I’m not sure how the controversy will affect him this weekend, but I’m expecting Valdez to ultimately beat Conceicao but will struggle with his size for a few rounds.
