On the road again: 10 days in Las Vegas starting with Valdez-Stevenson
An electric weigh-in; preview podcast; fight 5 years in the making; on the scene; Show and tell
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LAS VEGAS — Junior lightweight titleholders Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson went face-to-face one last time during an extended staredown during which they jawed at each other after weighing in on Friday afternoon.
But as they have throughout the promotion, they kept it strictly professional as the crowd of several thousand — about evenly split for each man — inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena cheered them on.
Stevenson weighed in first and was right on the division limit of 130 pounds, but he had to strip nude behind a screen to make weight.
Valdez was next up and was 129.6 pounds for their unification fight, which is also for the vacant Ring magazine title. It will take place inside the same arena on Saturday (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET).
“I’m very excited for this. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve dreamt of these kinds of opportunities, to be fighting for unified championships and to be fighting in Las Vegas,” said Valdez, who will be making his second title defense. “I’m just very excited right now to be in this mega fight, and I can’t wait. I’m anxious to step in the ring.
“It’s the perfect time to have this fight now. Shakur Stevenson is a two-time world champion right now. I’m a two-time world champion as well. It’s the perfect time. Let’s prove who is the best 130-pounder. Let’s get it. Let’s just show it. I think it’s the correct time to do it.”
Like Valdez, Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs), 24, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, is a former Olympian and former featherweight world titleholder. He has been seeking a fight with Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs ), 31, of Mexico, for the past few years.
“I’ve been waiting on this moment my whole life,” said Stevenson, who will be making his first title defense. “It’s taken years and years of training, since I was an amateur, to prepare for this moment and I feel like I’m ready. I never said I’m on the pound-for-pound list yet. I said that after this fight, once I get past Oscar Valdez, I’ll be on the pound-for-pound list.
“I think he’s going to bang. That’s it. I think he’s trying to trick me into thinking he’s going to box me and be technical. I’m not falling for that. I’m ready for the Oscar Valdez who goes in there throwing hooks and putting pressure.”
Here are the rest of the weights for the card: Keyshawn Davis 136.2, Esteban Davis 136.6; Nico Ali Walsh 159.2, Alejandro Ibarra 160.4; Raymond Muratalla 134.8, Jeremy Hill 134; Andres Cortes 131.8, Alexis del Bosque 131.6; Troy Isley 157.4, Anthony Hannah 156.8; Abdullah Mason 136.4, Luciano Ramos 137.8; Antoine Cobb 143.6, Jaylan Phillips 142.4.
Big Fight Weekend preview podcast
We covered a lot in our previews of Valdez-Stevenson, including my interview on Thursday with Valdez, and Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano. Give it a listen and subscribe to the podcast!
5 years in the making
Valdez and Stevenson are both undefeated, both former Olympians, both former featherweight world titleholders and both now hold junior lightweight world titles. So who should be granted the desired position of walking to the ring second?
That was a bone contention during the fight negotiations but finally settled in the paperwork and then put into practice on Thursday at the fight-week news conference ahead of the their highly anticipated 130-pound unification showdown. The solution: A coin flip.
So, before the formal news conference began, Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Denzel Perryman was invited to the stage to do the honors.
Valdez had heads, Stevenson tails, and when Perryman flipped the silver dollar it came up tails. That means Stevenson will walk to the ring second — the preferred slot — and be introduced first and Valdez will walk first but be introduced second.
The moment deciding the order of the pre-fight pageantry was a long way from a night almost five years ago to the day — April 22, 2017 — when Valdez outpointed Miguel Marriaga in an action-packed fight in the second of his six WBO featherweight title defense at what was then StubHub Center in Carson, California.
On the undercard of the Top Rank pay-per-view show, Stevenson, fresh of claiming a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, made his professional debut in a shutout sixth-round technical decision over Edgar Brito.
They’ve been on a collision course since. Please read my Big Fight Weekend story on it here: https://bigfightweekend.com/news/stevenson-turned-pro-on-oscar-valdez-undercard-now-they-meet/
On the scene
Took some pictures upon my arrival Thursday morning in Las Vegas, where I am for 10 days to cover Valdez-Stevenson and Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol next Saturday.
This is the main entrance of the MGM Grand, where I have covered more fights than any other venue in my 22 years of covering boxing. I’ve probably covered close to 100 events here and spent well over one year of my life in this hotel. That’s a lot of water pressure reports.
One of the traditions at the MGM Grand is that during fight there is a boxing ring set up in the lobby with fight signage. It’s a popular spot for people to pose for photos. I took one when I arrived. Should change over to Canelo-Bivol after the weekend. That fight is at T-Mobile Arena but the MGM Grand is the official host hotel.
My friends at Ring magazine announced that Valdez-Stevenson will be for the vacant Ring title as they are the two best 130-pounders in the world and ranked as the top two. This is the actual belt that will go to the winner. It was on display at Thursday’s news conference, after which I set it up and took this photo.
This is the site poster (actually a plastic-like duratran) in a light box near the MGM Grand main elevators to advertise the event the casino guests.
Show and tell
The other day in the “Show and tell” section I displayed the rookie card of lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (who is in the Valdez-Stevenson co-feature) that is inserted into the fight night program produced by Seidman Productions. Here is the other card on the two-fight panel that has perforation lines if the owner wants to separate the cards. This is a great shot from a photo shoot done when the fight was first announced. The rookie cards of Valdez and Stevenson appeared in past programs, so having them together on a combo card is pretty cool. Like the rest of the cards in the ongoing set that has reached 64 cards, I wrote the back.
Valdez-Stevenson photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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