WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez weighed in at 129.6 lbs on Friday at the weigh-in for his unification fight against smiling, Cheshire cat-looking WBO champion Shakur Stevenson in their bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images)
Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) weighed in right at the super featherweight limit at 130-lbs and looked painfully thin, showing the effects of likely having taken off huge amounts of water weight.
Stevenson continued to stare at Valdez after he turned away during the face-off. Obviously, Stevenson has seen other fighters do this, so he mimicked them.
It was a waste of time if it was a move for Stevenson to try and intimidate Valdez because he has way too much amateur & professional experience to be unnerved by a fighter that chooses to keep staring when he turns away to face the audience.
That trick by Stevenson might work on a novice, but not a two-time Olympian like Valdez.
Saturday’s Valdez-Stevenson fight will be shown at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+
“Both of them looked good. This is the fight of their life. This is the biggest fight in both of their career’s so far, especially for Valdez,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV.
“I think for Shakur, this WON’T be the biggest fight of his career,” Bradley continued “This is the biggest at the moment, but this won’t be because he’s still young.
“He’s 24-years-old, he’s still growing, he’s still getting better, fighting better competition moving forward going in different multiple weight classes.
“Shakur stylistically has this fight, in my opinion, because he knows how to control distances. If you saw the [Robson] Conceicao [fight], you can say he [Valdez] wasn’t right mentally.
“Still, stylistically, Conceicao was giving Valdez issues, especially when he was maintaining distance and he was punching him from the outside with straight punches. That’s Shakur Stevenson. He can do that all night.
“He can punch from the outside, laser in, and catch Oscar before he gets to where he wants to get to. Oscar has a puncher’s chance. Valdez has a 2% chance of winning this fight in my opinion.
He’s going to have to early on because that’s when Shakur is at his strongest,” said Bradley when asked if Valdez can be successful by using ‘smart pressure.’
“Early on, you got to be careful getting caught early. You don’t want to get caught cold,” said Bradley about Valdez needing to be careful early against Stevenson.
Full weights:
Keyshawn Davis 136.2 lbs vs. Esteban Davis 136.6 lbs
Nico Ali Walsh 159.2 lbs vs. Alejandro Ibarra 160.4 lbs
Raymond Muratalla 134.8 lbs vs. Jeremy Hill 134 lbs
Andres Cortes 131.8 lbs vs. Alexis del Bosque 131.6 lbs
Troy Isley 157.4 lbs vs. Anthony Hannah 156.8 lbs
Abdullah Mason 136.4 lbs vs. Luciano Ramos 137.8 lbs
Antoine Cobb 143.6 lbs vs. Jaylan Phillips 142.4 lbs
