Shakur Stevenson plans on frustrating WBO super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez with his skills, defensive, and pinpoints shots on Saturday night until he mentally falls apart and is there for the taking at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
WBO 130-lb champion (17-0, 9 KOs) Stevenson feels that a one-sided win over Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) is a foregone conclusion in their fight on ESPN+ and ESPN on April 30th.
Stevenson, 24, has already made it clear that he’s going to be shutting the popular 31-year-old former two-division world champion Valdez down, not letting him land any shots, and dominating him the way he did with Jeremia Nakathilia, another big puncher that he recently schooled.
Stevenson’s promoters at Top Rank are hoping to turn him into a huge superstar type of fighter in the Floyd Mayweather Jr. mold.
Unfortunately, it appears that Valdez will be sacrificed to help make Stevenson the huge star, and that’s too bad. Top Rank will lose one revenue stream while strengthening the other.
Even if Stevenson does win in a masterful performance on Saturday night over Valdez, it’s unknown if he’ll be able to become a big star like Mayweather.
Floyd was more willing to stand and trade with his opponents early in his career than what we’ve seen from Shakur.
“When I say ‘mentally drained,’ it’s not like you’re going in there with somebody that you can hit,” said Shakur Stevenson to Top Rank Boxing in sending a message to his opponent Oscar Valdez for Saturday night.
“You’re going in there with somebody you can’t hit. So as the fight goes on, you’re going to be like, ‘I can’t do nothing,’ and that’s how I think the fight is going to go,” said Shakur.
“Well, I feel different,” said Valdez. “The guy that makes the first mistake is going to pay for it. So this is that type of fight.”
“It’s a technical type of fight,” said a grinning Stevenson. “Okay, that’s perfect.”
“I work hard,” said Valdez when asked what he does better than Shakur. “A lot of people think I just go in there and go toe-to-toe. I love that style, I love that because one thing that’s what the fans like.
“I don’t have to fight like that. I can box as well. I can use the ring. I can do a lot of things, but it all depends on what my rival brings to the table,” said Valdez.
“The only time I seen him be technical was against a punching bag,” said Shakur about Valdez only having fought in a technical manner in his 2021 fight against former WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt.
“I’m not taking anything away from Berchelt. I thought that was a great victory, but I felt like he was walking forward, not really any defense, and Oscar timed him and caught him with a good shot. That was the only time I seen him be technical,” said Stevenson.
