By Allan Fox: Shakur Stevenson says he will become a “superstar” on Saturday night by defeating Oscar Valdez in their unification fight at 130 in a Top Rank Boxing promoted card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Bob Arum reportedly believes the winner of the super featherweight battle between WBC champion Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) and WBO champion Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) will be the next big superstar in the sport.
Valdez, 31, says he will give it his all to get the ‘W,” and he’s just hoping to be included on the pound-for-pound list after beating the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson.
Shakur has already alerted the media & fans about how the fight will play out by saying that he’s not going to be involved in a toe-to-toe battle like Valdez wants.
He’s going to hit and get away before Oscar has the chance to land anything in return. It’s believed that Canelo Alvarez has already given Valdez tips on defeating Stevenson.
The Mexican star Canelo has experience against crafty fighters like Valdez in the past in his fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Erislandy Lara. Those are match-ups that changed Canelo, causing him to retool his game.
“I expect him to try and do that, but then, it’ll probably be too late,” said Shakur Stevenson to Top Rank Boxing about his belief Oscar Valdez will try and rally in the second half of the fight.
“There have been fighters who had a horrible performance, but they looked great in their next one,” said Valdez. “I looked like crap in my last fight, but this is my chance to get all that back.”
“I didn’t perform to the best of my ability. We won every round, but my bad night was a night that we dominated,” said Stevenson about his fight against Jeremia Nakathila.
“I look at that as my next fight, we fought Jamel [Herring], and I did what I was supposed to do. If you up the level of competition on me, I’m going to up it on them every time.
“Shakur Stevenson winning,” said Shakur when asked how Saturday’s fight with Valdez would play out. “I don’t know what fashion, how it’s done. I see myself winning.”
“To my fans, I never promise a knockout, a knockout of the year, a war. I never promised my fans any of that,” said Valdez. “What I do promise is to give my best.
“I give my blood, sweat, guts, tears, everything inside the ring and give my best effort. My goal is to win, but I promise to leave everything inside that ring,” said Valdez.
“I will be the superstar that night,” said Stevenson about him achieving superstar status by beating Valdez on Saturday. “That’s how I look at it.”
“It will put me in the top pound-for-pound list,” said Valdez on what he’ll gain by beating Shaku.
