By Allan Fox: Oscar Valdez puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of Floyd Mayweather Jr for this era’s fighters ducking the best, and wanting to protect their undefeated records. Fans call it ‘cherry-picking,’ and it’s hurt the sport of boxing because due to the best fights not getting made.
Mayweather’s fans would argue that he did fight Manny Pacquiao, but what they don’t say is he waited until he was 36-years-old and not the same fighter he’d been years earlier.
Valdez believes Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) is the guy that started the trend that fighters have used as a model in how to conduct their careers by avoiding the risky guys or picking his opposition when they’re old or too young.
Valdez doesn’t want to follow in Mayweather’s footsteps
The former WBO featherweight champion Valdez (27-0, 21 KOs) says he doesn’t want to conduct his own career by cherry-picking opposition because it would leave him with regret when he’s older.
For instance, if Valdez never fights Miguel ‘El Alacran’ Berchelt, he would always wonder later in life if he could have beaten him.
Some would argue that Canelo Alvarez is following Mayweather’s style of carefully choosing his opposition by facing a lot of fighters when they’re ancient, and no longer a threat to beating him.
Canelo also hasn’t fought a lot of guys like Jermall Charlo, Caleb Plant, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, and Dmitry Bivol. So, some would say that Canelo learned a lot more from watching Mayweather than just his style of fighting. He’s also picking his opponents as Mayweather did.
Mayweather is the originator of guys protecting their ‘O’
“I don’t want to be old one of these days, saying, ‘What would have happened if I fought Alacran Berchelt. Who would have won?'” said Valdez to Fighthub. “I would have regretted my whole life.
“If it comes in the future, then, of course, I’ll fight him. My opinion is Mayweather is to blame,” said Valdez on why fighters don’t want to face certain opponents.
“Mayweather brought that, ‘You’ve got to be undefeated to be great,’ and I don’t believe that. You’ve got Julio Cesar Chavez, and you’ve got Muhammad Ali, you’ve got Mike Tyson, you’ve got Marco Antonio Barrera.
“All these guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, they all had losses. Those guys were legends, but then Mayweather came, and he was undefeated. He was obviously one of the best out there. But he put that style that you have to take care of your undefeated record,” Valdez said.
If there were one company in charge of all boxing like with the UFC, you wouldn’t have fighters ducking the best. They’d be told who they’re going to fight, and boxing fans would see better quality match-ups.
So instead of Canelo padding his record fighting the likes of Rocky Fielding or Sergey Kovalev, he’d have to face David Benavidez or Beterbiev. Fans would be able to see who the real talents are, and who the manufactured fighters are.
There’s not anything people can do to force boxers to take risks with their careers other than calling them out for it. If the famous fighters didn’t make big money, they’d be more motivated to take risks with their careers.
Fighters protecting their perfect records
“So now everyone is afraid of losing that undefeated record because, with one loss, two loses, or three losses, you’re not worth the same,” said Oscar Valdez.
“People, you’re not going to get paid as much. ‘He’s too much of a danger. I don’t want to fight him. I want to fight him [a lesser threat].’ but as I said, for us, that’s not the case.
“We want to keep fighting. We’re [super featherweights] not getting paid like welterweights or heavyweights. We’re getting paid what we’re getting paid. It’s not too much, but at least it’s something. That’s the way I see it.
“It’s my job. That’s the way I put food on the table for my family. It doesn’t have to be something crazy, but as long as I’m working and fighting, I’ll be good. That’s the main reason.
“You’ve got a good example of Manny Pacquiao. He has several losses, and he’s still, to this day, beating a lot of fighters. They are young, talented fighters, and there are a lot of cases like that.
“But you know what Roger Mayweather said that ‘Most people don’t know nothing about boxing,'” said Valdez.
There is several different guys in the sport that appear to be guarding their perfect records. This is a shortlist of fighters that some boxing fans believe have been protecting their records:
- Jermall Charlo
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Michael Conlan
- Canelo Alvarez
Valdez, 29, is fighting this Tuesday against Jayson Velez (29-6-1, 21 KOs) in a 10-round bout on ESPN+ at The Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Valdez vs. Velez is headlining a Top Rank-promoted show.