By Allan Fox: WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez had one of the toughest fights in the last three years in defeating fringe contender Robson Conceicao by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in Tucson, Arizona.
After the fight, Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) made it clear that he wants the winner of the October 23rd bout between WBO 130-lb champ Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson.
“We all want the winner of Shakur Stevenson and Jamel Herring. Let’s do it,” said Valdez after the fight.
You can understand why Valdez would want to fight Stevenson or Herring, but that would be stupid on his part. Let’s face it, Conceicao gave Valdez a shellacking last Friday night, and he needs time to recover from that beating.
For Valdez to even fight the loser of the Herring vs. Shakur fight would be a mistake because I don’t think he would win unless he got the same type of judging we saw last Friday night.
Valdez NOT ready for Herring-Stevenson winner
It might be wise for Valdez to take another fight or two before facing the Herring vs. Stevenson winner because it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to fight either of those guys off the back of his performance against Conceicao.
Given that boxing fans have discredited Valdez completely for his win over Miguel Berchelt last February due to his recent positive test for the banned substance phentermine, it would be smart to give him a rematch.
If Valdez agrees to be tested throughout training camp for the Berchelt fight, he can show fans what he can do against the former WBC champion in a second fight.
For Valdez’s sake, he’s going to need to fight much better against the winner of that fight than he did last night against Conceicao (16-1, 8 KOs) because he won’t beat those fighters. But then again, Valdez could win if he gets the same type of judging that we saw against Conceicao.
Valdez won’t win too many fans if he’s outworked by Stevenson or Herring the way that he was against Conceicao, considering he didn’t appear to have done enough to earn the victory.
Despite being outworked and BADLY marked up, the judges gave Valdez the ‘W’ against Conceicao by the scores: 117-110, 115-112, and 115-112.
The judge who gave it to Valdez by a 117-110 score gave zero credit for anything that Conceicao did in the fight, which is troubling.
It’s one thing to be a little off in your scoring, but it isn’t very reassuring when a judge is that far off. Actually, that score made Valdez look bad because it gave the impression to fans that the judge had made his mind up BEFORE the fight.
Conceicao: I won the fight
“This is boxing. I cannot go with his game. I played my game. Look at his face and look at my face. I have nothing on my face. Oscar’s is all fu—- up. I won this fight,” said Conceicao after the fight.
Conceicao got the better of the action in the first half of the contest, fighting well enough behind his powerful jab to win the first five rounds.
There really wasn’t any of the first five rounds that you could give Valdez unless you don’t count jabs, which was clearly the case of the judges.
Conceicao was landing jabs and powerful right hands and left hooks to the head of Valdez in the first half of the fight.
It was so one-sided during that part of the fight that it looked like it would be a shutout for the Brazilian fighter.