Canelo Alvarez & Oscar Valdez training side by side

Image: Canelo Alvarez & Oscar Valdez training side by side
By Boxing News - 04/05/2022 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Oscar Valdez posted video workout footage today of him and Canelo Alvarez training side-by-side at their trainer Eddy Reynoso’s gym as they prepare for their upcoming fights in April and May.

WBC super featherweight champion Valdez looks like he’s working hard, and it won’t be surprising if he overtrains for his unification fight against WBC 130-lb champion Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs).

Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) has the tougher task going up against Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) on April 30th on ESPN at the MGM Grand Garden in New York.

Few boxing fans are giving the 31-year-old Valdez much chance to beat the highly talented 24-year-old Stevenson in this fight, and Chris Williams can see why.

Shakur is on another level than Valdez, and we will see that on April 30th.  Of course, you can’t rule out a win for Valdez, as he punches hard, and he’s going to be setting traps for Stevenson in hopes that he walks into one of them the way Miguel Berchelt did last year.

Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) has the easier fight than Valdez in taking on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) on May 7th on DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The ONLY reason this fight is happening is that Canelo, 31, and his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso believe with 100% certainty that they’re going to win.

If there were even a shred of doubt in their minds that they could beat Bivol, the fight wouldn’t happen. In other words, Canelo carefully chooses his opposition and only fights guys that he knows he can beat.

To the average fan, that’s code for ‘cherry-picking,’ and Canelo is quite good at that. Hence, we’ve seen him taking advantage of the weak bunch of champions at 168 that held belts last year.

Before Canelo moved up to 168 in late 2018, the division was dead, lacking in talented fighters and occupied mainly by guys who could not win world titles at 160 or 175.

Image: Canelo Alvarez & Oscar Valdez training side by side

So instead of them being relegated to contender status in those weight classes, they took advantage of the lack of talent in the 168lb division to capture titles.

“I felt like he ducked me when I was his mandatory at 126. He had the biggest fight there, and they offered him a lot of money, and he said, no,'” said Shakur Stevenson to Top Rank Boxing when asked if he felt that Oscar Valdez had been ducking him in the past.

“Now that he got to 130, it seemed like he didn’t want this fight either, but we’re here. He took the fight now, so you got to respect it.

“I definitely thought [Miguel] Berchelt was going to win that fight [against Valdez], but I never looked at Berchelt like no boogeyman. I always knew that he was a come forward type of fighter, put pressure, no defense, and Valdez capitalized on that,” said Shakur.

“My punching power, I feel like my physical strength, I feel like everything is underestimated about me when it comes to that,” said Stevenson when asked what do boxing fans underestimate about him.

“I think I’m a long stronger than people think. People don’t realize that until they get in the ring. You don’t see nobody walk through me.

“He’s going to try and press me, and try and fight his hardest,” said Shakur when asked what he expects Valdez to do on April 30th. “I’m the better fighter, the more skillful fighter, and on April 30th, I’m going to become a superstar.

“On the 30th, you’re going to see a superstar be reborn. I feel like I shine in my biggest moment. Pressure busts pipes and diamonds, and I’ve been a diamond my whole career. In my biggest moment, I always step up. So you’re going to see that on April 30th.

“Me, I feel like I’m the best fighter in the world. I haven’t had the chance to really prove it yet, but on April 30th it’s going to be another stepping stone to proving that.

“Because I’m betting on myself. I feel like when you bet on yourself, it always works out in the way that you want it to workout,” said Stevenson when asked why he agreed to take less money than Valdez for the fight.

“This might be my first and last time doing this. I feel like I’m going to be a superstar later on, and I’ll probably never have to do this age. But right now, we’re going to do whatever it takes to make the biggest fights happen.

“Anything is possible. Just don’t look past me knocking him out. If you’re betting on the fight, do not look past me stopping him,” said Stevenson.

YouTube video