Óscar Valdez

Amateur career

At age 17, Valdez came to upset 2007 PanAm champion Carlos Cuadras at the semifinal of the 2007 National Championships and winning the bantamweight championship in his next bout.

At the Olympic qualifier he edged out Brazilian James Pereira in the semifinal and got one of two votes even though he lost in the final to Yankiel León, getting a silver medal and a pass to the Beijing Olympics with only 3 international bouts in his record. In Beijing however, he ran right into eventual gold medal winner Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan and lost his first bout 4-15.

In 2008, he moved up to Featherweight and won the first 2008 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships. The tournament was held in Guadalajara in his home country, and he showed off the experience he had gained by beating his opponents from Barbados, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. In the semi-finals, he had also knocked out the opponent from Ukraine in the first round. In the finals, he dominated the opposition such as Russian Maxim Dadashev whom he beat 12-0 in the final.

In Milan, at the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships (seniors), he won the bronze medal and became the first Mexican to achieve a medal at a World Champhionships in the history of the sport in Mexico.

After his run through of the Featherweight division, once again Valdez moved back down to Bantamweight. There, He won his Olympic qualifier. Valdez won his first fight in the 2012 Olympic Games, defeating India's Shiva Thapa by a margin of 14-9. In his second fight of the games, he won to Tajikistan's Anvar Yunusov by a margin of 13-7 then lost 13-19 to Ireland's John Joe Nevin.

Early career

Valdez made his professional debut at the age of 21 on November 3, 2012. He defeated Angel Prado via 2nd round stoppage in a scheduled six round fight. The fight took place at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. In December, Valdez knocked out Corben Page in round 2 at the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fights took place at featherweight.

In 2013, Valdez fought a total of six times at super featherweight, winning all the bouts inside the distance. By the end of the year, he racked up a record of 8 wins, all by stoppage and no defeats.

On March 1, 2014 Valdez fought Samuel Sanchez on the undercard of Lomachenko-Salido at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight was halted in round 3, as Valdez won via technical knockout. Valdez next fought in April on the Pacquiao-Bradley II undercard. He fought Adrian Perez (10-4-1, 1 KO) for the vacant NABF Junior super featherweight title in his first 8 round bout. The fight ended in round 4 when Valdez landed with a left hand to the liver, followed by a right hand, which sent Perez down to all fours. Perez made no attempt to get to his feet as the referee waved an end the bout. The three judges had Valdez ahead (30-27) at the time of stoppage. Valdez successfully defended the title in May at the Forum in Inglewood, California retiring Noel Echevarria (11-2, 6 KOs) after round 6.

Valdez returned to featherweight for the first time in nine fights on July 26 and went on to claim the vacant NABF Junior featherweight title in an 8 round unanimous decision victory against experienced journeyman Juan Ruiz (23-14, 7 KOs) at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. All three judges equally scored the fight 80-71 in Valdez's favour. Ruiz was deducted 1 point for excessive holding during the fight. The fight significantly ended the successive knockout streak dating back to Valdez's fight fight in November 2012.

Valdez made a defence of the NABF Junior super featherweight title in the Alamadome in November against Mexican boxer Alberto Garza 26-8-1, 21 KOs). Valdez retained the title via a technical knockout in round 7. Valdez fought a further five times towards the end of 2014 through to December 2015. Notable boxers he defeated included former super bantamweight title challenger Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez and former interim World featherweight title challenger Ruben Tamayo.

Valdez vs. Gradovich

It was announced that Valdez would be fighting on the undercard of Pacquiao-Bradley III on April 9, 2016 for the vacant WBO NABO featherweight title against another prospect and former IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich (21-1-1, 9 KOs) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Valdez defeated Gradovich via 4th round stoppage to claim the vacant title and move up in the WBO rankings. Valdez dominated from the opening bell with head and body combinations also appearing to have broken Gradovich's jaw. In round 4, Valdez caught Gradovich with a left hook which put him on the canvas. Referee Russell Mora started the count. Gradovich managed to get up, but Mora made the call to end the fight.

Valdez vs. Rueda

On July 23, 2016, the undercard of Crawford-Postol at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Valdez fought undefeated Argentine boxer Matias Rueda (26-0, 23 KOs). Two days prior to the fight, it was announced the fight would be for the WBO featherweight title after Vasyl Lomachenko decided to stay at super featherweight and vacate the featherweight title. Valdez claimed his first world title by winning the vacant WBO championship with a second-round stoppage win over Rueda, dropping him twice with body shots. After the second knockdown, referee Russell Mora waved the count for the TKO.

Valdez vs. Osawa

Valdez made his first title defense against 31 year old Japanese boxer Hiroshige Osawa (30-3-4, 19 KOs) on the undercard of Pacquiao-Vargas PPV bout on November 5, 2016. Osawa was ranked #1 by the WBO. The fight took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. Valdez told FightNews.com of his excitement for his first title defence, “I am excited for this fight. I am looking at this fight like if I am the challenger and I want to keep that mentality to do my best and win the fight. I am ready for my first title defense but I am still training like I am trying to win that title.”

The fight was one sided fight, Valdez halted Osawa in round 7 when he hurt him with a hook followed by a barrage of shots that prompted referee Vic Drakulich to stop the fight. Valdez hit accurate jabs and hard shots to the body and head from the opening bell and managed to knock down Osawa in round 4. At the time of stoppage, Valdez was ahead 60-53 on all three judges scorecards. According to Compubox, Valdez landed 191 punches to only 35 by Osawa, which included 129 power punches to his Osawa's 18.

Valdez vs. Marriaga

On February 17, 2017 Top Rank announced that Valdez would be making a mandatory defence of his WBO featherweight title against former WBA 'Super' World featherweight title challenger Miguel Marriaga (25-1, 21 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on April 22, 2017. Marriaga knocked out out Guy Robb in August 2016 to become the number one challenger. Bob Arum confirmed the stacked card would also include Gilberto Ramirez and Jessie Magdaleno defending their respective WBO titles and Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson making his professional debut.

Endorsements

Valdez is the current face of WildCat energy drink, a British brand, which recently launched in the Americas.