Bob Arum is all for a Shakur Stevenson v Oscar Valdez showdown!
The newly crowned WBC World Super Featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (29-0, 23 KO’s) proved a smaller man can be deadly! He accomplished this by brutally dethroning Miguel “El Alacran” Berchelt. Going into the fight, many thought that the larger Berchelt held too many advantages. Valdez was moving up in weight and the champion was a fearsome puncher with a staggering output.
In the ring however, Valdez showed his class. First he out-boxed, hurt and then snuffed Berchelt with a demonic left hook that sent him crashing limply to the canvas. After impact, Berchelt lay splayed out and as motionless as a corpse kicked out of a casket at a wake. Thankfully El Alacron was okay, but he collected his second professional loss and was muscled for his world title.
As it often is in the boxing world, Valdez did not have very long to celebrate before the wolves began circling. One of the leading parties looking for a scrap is former featherweight world champion “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO’s). Stevenson is just two fights removed from moving up to the super featherweight division himself. Even better, both men are promoted by Top Rank so that would alleviate any potential rival promoter/network issues.
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN
To make things even sweeter, Top Rank top dog Bob Arum said that he is fully onboard with making the bout a reality. As he told to Barbershop Conversations, so long as the fighters liked it he loved it.
“The way that I conduct my business is put it up to the fighters and their trainers, particularly when they know what they are doing. So I wouldn’t tell Shakur who to fight, I might make suggestions. I wouldn’t tell Oscar, they will make the right decision and when they decide they want to do the fight. And I know that at some point it will happen, maybe the next fight, maybe down the road we’ll see a great, great fight. And that’s what the public wants.”
“…I think that is a monster fight! Now, I know that Shakur, who I have great respect for and really affection for, was at the fight [Valdez v Berchelt] last night and told me that’s the fight that he wants to do. And Valdez said that that is a fight that he wants. So I will talk to their management, I’ll talk to their trainers and if that is the fight that both sides want, that’s the fight I’ll do. And that’s a big pay-per-view fight, I believe, and would do a tremendous gate because fans will be back I think in June, July, that time.”
As Arum stated himself, both parties have publicly professed their desire for this fight. It will be interesting to see if this seemingly simple fight will be made or whether a curveball present itself. In either case, 3kingsboxing.com will be there to report.
By: Bakari Simpson
