Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
In his super featherweight debut, former featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez (27-0, 21 KOs) scored a tougher than expected seventh round TKO over late sub Adam “Blunose” Lopez (13-2, 6 KOs) on Saturday night at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Lopez surprised everyone when he dropped Valdez in round two with a left hook and then gave Valdez all he could handle. Valdez finally got to Lopez and dropped him in round seven. Lopez beat the count but after Valdez landed another shot the bout was very quickly waved off by referee Russell Mora. Time was 2:53. The bout was sanctioned as a WBC eliminator to challenge WBC 130lb world champion Miguel Berchelt. At the time of the stoppage, Lopez was ahead on the card of Max De Luca 57-56. Judge Glenn Feldman had Valdez up 57-56. Judge Dave Moretti had Valdez up 58-55, giving him every round but the knockdown round.
Former two-division champ Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (27-2, 15 KOs) dominated previously unbeaten Tyler McCreary (16-1-1, 7 KOs) over ten rounds. Frampton steadily broke down McCreary to the body. McCreary went down from a body shot in round six. Frampton floored McCreary again with body shots in round nine. Scores were 100-88 across the board. Frampton may be in line to face WBO 130lb champ Jamel Herring.
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See? The nigas think everything is easy Tyler was too green for this fight
Carlos, put a lid on the racism. That’s rude and uncalled for.
Yeah Jonathan, that’s rude and unnecessary
One heck of a fight between Valdez and Lopez.
Terrible stoppage!
Lopez was winning the fight and going great! He got hurt but was surviving afterwards, got hit but didn’t seem hurt after the follow up by Valdez.
Surpised Valdez was dropped by the light hitting Lopez especially after that war with Quigg who hits harder.
Seems like Berchelt would be a heavy favorite against Valdez after that performance.
I always wonder why even experienced boxers lose their heads and go head-hunting when they have an opponent hurt. It should be body, body, body, then head. Instead, Valdez missed a lot of head shots on the way to the stoppage. He didn’t cut off the ring by stepping to the right but instead followed Lopez around the ring and was being outboxed. I thought the fight was stopped prematurely, but it was probably the right thing to do to save Lopez for future fights.
I’m not an Oscar Valdez fan. He often loops his punches, and leaves himself open when he attacks. He throws hard punches on every shot and doesn’t mix them up with a change of speed and intensity. He’s a good fighter, but far from elite. Ultimately, Lopez just lacked the experience to deal with Valdez in the later rounds. However, I do believe he was the better fighter most of the night.
Valdez will be demolished if he does face Berchelt. He’d better be carefully matched henceforth because his undefeated streak will end when he meets one of the top fighters in the super featherweight division
I agree. I think Valdez is a very entertaining fighter but one destined to lose once he steps up to elite opposition. I suspected this card was made to set up Valdez/Frampton, which is a more suitable and lucrative fight. I think Berchelt is all wrong for Valdez and would think top rank would see that.
Of course the “Canelo” judge, Dave Moretti, gives everything to Valdez (who has Canelo’s trainer).
Way too early of a stoppage. Regardless, even in defeat Lopez won.
Valdez protected with a quick stoppage by la Raza ref Russell Mora. Valdez will get knocked out by Berchelt.
I think Adam Lopez’s stock went up, not down, in defeat. He impressed the suits by saving the show, and the fans with his efforts. Still a rising star.
With a performance like that, Valdez better stay away from Frampton.
Valdez’s poor performance shouldn’t be taken as a measure stick to evaluate his chances against Berchelt. We will see another Valdez’s version if the fight happens and this one will be good enough to get the win and the title from Berchelt.
Berchelt is a top dog at 130, he probably could even go up to 135 and beat Haney. If he wants to leave the belt vacant for Valdez to try to win it that way, that may be cool. I do not know if Berchelt struggles to make 130. Read that Berchelt wants to go to 135 to fight Lomachenko or Tank Davis. Berchelt also said he wanted to fight Valdez.
Valdez doesn’t seem to fight with that spark that he did when he was an amateur.