Shakur Stevenson called out Oscar Valdez and when Valdez didn’t fight him, he continued to call him out.
When Valdez flunked a drug test, Stevenson called him out. Stevenson’s wanted to announce his greatness similar to when Floyd Mayweather Jr. called out Oscar Dela Hoya.
It took Mayweather breaking away from Top Rank for him to realize his dream of fighting Dela Hoya and it proved to be worth the wait.
Like Mayweather after his win over the Golden Boy, Stevenson has a lot of big boxing nights ahead of him.
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) dominated Valdez with his unanimous decision victory. The Official Scorecards had it 118-109, 118-109, and 117-110. Making the Cut had it 117-110.
“I said I’m gonna beat Valdez, Canelo and Eddy Reynoso, so that was my gameplan, beat the whole team and I feel good about it,” saide Stevenson.
Stevenson showed all those tools in his dominating victory that included sending Valdez to the canvas in the 6th round.
“He has great boxing skills,” said Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs). “He was just the better fighter this night.”
Like Mayweather, Stevenson controlled distance all night. When Valdez tried to get off first, Stevenson punished him with counters. It came to a point where Valdez would stand in front of Stevenson and do nothing. That allowed Stevenson to impose his will with his speed and combinations.
Mayweather was great for that. Being in the pocket with his opponent afraid to throw punches. Even Dela Hoya recognized how the fight looked a lot like a Mayweather fight.
Canelo Mayweather
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) May 1, 2022
He wasn’t wrong. Valdez looked as frustrated had looked the night Mayweather outclassed. The beauty of it was Canelo, a good friend of Valdez, was sitting ringside for the fight.
“I want to collect all the belts at 130 and become undisputed,” said Stevenson after the fight. “I deserve to be a superstar, so that’s what I gotta do.”
He has the tools to accomplish just that… just like Mayweather.
Photo Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images
