Oscar Valdez and Ricky Medina both made weight on Friday for their 10-round headliner clash tonight at super featherweight in a Top Rank-promoted event. The fight is part of a card on ESPN Deportes from the Domo Binacional (Nogales, Mexico. The event starts at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT.
(Credit: Zanfer Boxing)
Is This the End for Valdez?
Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) is coming back from a loss to Emanuel Navarrete on December 7, 2024, and he’s using Medina (16-3, 9 KOs) as an opponent to get back to his winning ways.
At this late stage of the former two-division world champion Valdez’s career, it’s not a sure thing that he defeats Medina. If Valdez loses, it would be a signal that he needs to start thinking about retirement. His record going into tonight’s fight with Medina is 2-3 in his last five fights since April 30, 2022.
Weights
• Oscar Valdez 127.9 lbs vs. Ricky Medina 127.9 lbs
• Israel Ramirez 121.5 lbs vs. Jose Amaro 123 lbs
• Angel Patron 123 lbs vs. Carlos Vargas 123 lbs)
• Erick Fernando Campos 139.3 lbs vs. Omar Garcia 136.7 lbs
• Luis Corona Parra 133.8 lbs vs. Yohan Orduño 130.1 lbs
The Path to a Title Shot
“I need to make clear in this fight who will go on to fight for a world title. I want to be a world champion again, but in order to do that, I have to win and give the example that in life you can come back from any defeat,” said Valdez.
As long as Oscar Valdez is serious about wanting to become a world champion again, it would be advisable for him not to target WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete again. Valdez has already lost twice to Navarrete in 2023 and 2024.
It would be a bad career move for Oscar to fight him a third time. A better option would be WBA champion Lamont Roach. IBF champion Edgardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez might be too tough at this stage of Valdez’s career. If he were younger, that would be an excellent fight. But at 34, Valdez has too many miles on the odometer for him to fight Nunez.
