Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) had a tough month leading up to his fight with Robson Conceicao.
The fight itself was even tougher. Valdez escaped with a unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 117-110, 115-112 and 115-112. Making the Cut scored the fight 115-112 Valdez while ESPN scored the fight 114-113 for Conceicao.
Emotions flared up after the fight.
“He’s over here yelling in my face. 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,” Valdez said.
Valdez started off slow as he was dealing with Conceicao’s (16-1, 8 KOs) jab and movement. It wasn’t until midway through the fight that Valdez started taking over. Conceicao’s activity started to diminish and Valdez was able to get inside and get to his body.
In the 9th round, referee Tony Zaino took a point away from Conceicao for hitting behind the head. What made the deduction controversial was the fact that Zaino had never warned Conceicao. The replay showed that the point deduction wasn’t warranted but it didn’t impact the outcome on the official scorecards.
(Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images)
