Podcast: Oscar Valdez interview; preview of Zepeda-Hughes card

Plus: News of the week; plethora of big-fight anniversary memories

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There most notable card of the weekend is the Golden Boy show on DAZN headlined by the lightweight eliminator between William Zepeda and Maxi Hughes, and we previewed it. There is also my interview with former two-division titleholder Oscar Valdez ahead of his upcoming junior lightweight fight against Liam Wilson. We also covered several news items of the week and looked at back notable anniversaries.

Here is what’s on the show (in order):

• Preview of the Zepeda-Hughes card with thoughts on the main event and undercard bouts, including lightweight up-and-comer Floyd Schofield’s co-feature.

• My interview with former junior lightweight and featherweight titlist Valdez as he prepares to face Wilson in the Top Rank main event on ESPN+ on March 29.

• Unified flyweight titlist Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s plans to move back up to junior bantamweight to face champion Juan Francisco Estrada in a fight that is being finalized to headline a Matchroom Boxing card on June 29 (DAZN).

• My reporting on WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson being penciled in for his first defense on July 6 in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, in the final bout of his Top Rank contract.

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• Announcement that former UFC stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will rematch in a 10-round light heavyweight boxing match instead of fighting in the cage.

• Top Rank’s announcement that it has signed super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli to co-promotional deal with Eye of the Tiger.

• Memories on the 31st anniversary of the epic 1993 fight of the year, Michael Carbajal’s comeback seventh-round knockout of fellow Hall of Famer Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez to unify junior flyweight titles in the first bout of their trilogy.

• Memories on the 25th anniversary of when Lennox Lewis was robbed of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion in a massively controversial draw against fellow HOFer Evander Holyfield in their first fight.

• Ringside memories on the 20th anniversary of when Winky Wright handily outpointed fellow HOFer Shane Mosley in their 1st fight to unify and become the undisputed junior middleweight champion the night after my bachelor party in Las Vegas.

• Ringside memories on the 14th anniversary of when Manny Pacquiao cruised to a near-shutout of Joshua Clottey to retain the WBO welterweight title in first boxing event at AT&T Stadium.

• Thoughts of the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler on the third anniversary of his death at age 66.

Please give it a listen! Also: rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!

We bring you the preview each Friday and the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.

Oscar Valdez photo: Top Rank

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