Oscar Alvarez (30-0, 23 KOs) successfully held onto his WBC super featherweight title on Friday night with a 12 round unanimous decision over Robson Conceicao (16-1, 8 KOs) in the battle of the Olympians in Tucson, Arizona.
They battled it out in front of a nice-sized crowd at the Casino Del Sol, with the judges giving it to Valdez by the scores 117-110, 115-112, and 115-112. Boxing 247 had it for Conceicao by 9 rounds to 3 score. The 117-110 score didn’t match the fight that took place.
Valdez didn’t appear to do enough to get the win, but he’s the home fighter, and there’s money to be made with him in the future against the winner of next month’s fight between WBO 130-lb champion Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson.
“We all want the winner of Shakur Stevenson and Jamel Herring. Let’s do it,” said Valdez.
“If the fighters want the fight, I have no problem putting Oscar in with the winner of Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.
Conceicao outworked Valdez in almost every round and looked like the better boxer of the two. Ultimately, the judges gave the fight to the less active fighter Valdez, but they likely gave it to him because he was landing the harder shots.
It’s the same thing we’ve seen from Canelo many times during his career. Even though Canelo has been outworked in the past, the judges still give him the win because he lands the cleaner shots.
In a questionable point deduction in the ninth, the referee docked a point from Conceicao for hitting Valdez with a rabbit shot.
It wasn’t much of a punch, but the referee immediately took the point away from Conceicao without having warned him earlier. Later in the fight, Valdez threw a rabbit punch of his own, but it was a lot harder in this case. Surprisingly, the referee didn’t take a point away from Valdez for his rabbit shot.
Valdez got away with a lot in the fight without being penalized; it’s not that surprising given his popularity and what he means for boxing.
Conceicao was showboating and letting off on Valdez at times during the championship rounds. That was a mistake on Conceicao’s part because he didn’t have a lead.
“He’s over here yelling in my face,” said Valdez after the fight in talking about Conceicao. “We’re grown men. Don’t be yelling in my face. He might be upset. Of course, you want to be a world champion, but don’t point at me, don’t be yelling in my face. I’ve been through enough this week, man.”
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