By Hesiquio Balderas

WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez is expecting a tough defense of his world title belt against the undefeated Jason “Alacrancito” Sanchez (14-0, 7 KOs) on June 8 at the Reno Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada.

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum sees Sanchez as a great prospect and even called him “the Cinderella Man” due to his upset victory last October 2018 against the undefeated top prospect Carlos Rivera. “He is hungry and that’s dangerous for Oscar,” said Arum. “Sanchez is capable of pulling the upset, it will be an exciting war!”

Under the tutelage of trainer Eddy Reynoso, Óscar Valdez has modified his style. “We keep working hard with Eddy Reynoso, our defense has improved and in sparring it shows. Our style always will be aggressive but we’re working in our defense,” said Valdez.

Oscar will be making the sixth defense of the WBO featherweight title and he is undefeated with at 25-0 with 20 KOs. He is looking forward to facing the elite of the 126lb division and it looks like Carl Frampton could be next, but Valdez is not looking past Sanchez.

“I’m taking this fight with Sanchez very seriously, and not looking past him and I let my manager Frank Espinoza and my Promoter Bob Arum along with my team decide what’s next, but I want the big names in my division” concluded Valdez.