Stevenson Calls out Oscar Valdez
Over the past few days, WBO world featherweight champion “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KO’s) has remained a staple on Twitter. Of the many items that he has talked about, one of the more pertinent topics is his discontentment with IBF world featherweight champion Josh “The Leeds Warrior” Warrington (30-0, 7 KO’s) penning a fight with ‘regular’ WBA world featherweight champion Can Xu (18-2, 3 KO’s), instead of himself.
Stevenson has left no room for doubt that he was itching to get in the ring with Warrington. After calling him out everywhere he could and even obtaining a world title, as the Leeds Warrior required, Fearless remained fruitless in securing the high-profile bout.
Finding himself unable to get the prizefight, and unwilling to sit idle in the division waiting, Stevenson has opted to move up in weight. In all honesty, the talented New Jersey native was every bit as vocal about moving up in the event he could not pen the fight, as he was about getting the showdown itself.
STEVENSON CALLS OUT OSCAR VALDEZ
When Fearless initially announced his plan to move up, it was merely a generic statement. Now however, Stevenson threw out a major name. Once again, via his Twitter account, Shakur Stevenson suggested a bout between himself and WBO #1 ranked super featherweight and former champion Oscar Valdez (27-0, 21 KO’s). Both men are key players in the WBO, albeit in different divisions. Stevenson suggested the bout would serve as an entertaining and meaningful title eliminator.
The WBO actually put out an order for these two to fight in 2019, when the two were still simultaneously campaigning within the featherweight division. This was prior prior to Valdez moving up in weight. At the time of the order, Fearless was the mandatory challenger for Valdez’s belt. However, before that prizefight could be finalized, Valdez left the division.
SNAG IN THE PLANS
Even though Stevenson clearly would like to secure the Valdez fight, the road ahead already has a road block. Well before Fearless let it be known that he had a concrete plan to move up, there were already talks of putting together a bout between Valdez and WBC super featherweight champion Miguel “Alacran” Berchelt (37-1, 33 KO’s).
The two were looking to face one another on June 6, but that was before COVID-19 tossed the collective world on its head. During a recent interview, Berchelt doubled-down on his desire to face Valdez in an all-Mexican slug-fest.
“What makes this fight so interesting is that we are both having a great time, me making the seventh defense of my title and he [Valdez] looking for his second title. I think what makes it more attractive is that it is Mexico against Mexico. These fights are always a guarantee of a show, I know that many do not want it, but it has to happen.” ~Miguel Berchelt, WBC super featherweight champion
It’ll be intriguing to see how this plays out. Yet on the outside looking in, it appears that Valdez v Berchelt has the higher probability of coming together first. Still, in any case, stay tuned to 3kingsboxing for all the latest boxing news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
