Oscar Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs) will be entering the ring against the WBO World Super Featherweight champion, and fellow Mexican fighter Emanuel Navarette (37-1, 31 KOs) on August 12th.
Valdez realizes the importance of this upcoming fight, and wants to use it to prove a point.
In a recent interview with ProBox TV, Valdez talked about how he feels about being given this opportunity, “I’m very happy, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m thankful to God to get another chance to fight for the WBO world title, it’s something I’ve really missed. Last time I got the chance to be the unified champion was when I fought and lost against Shakur Stevenson. So, I lost that opportunity there, I lost the titles, and now I’m trying to retake what was mine.
“It’s something I’ve missed a lot because we work really hard. We work really hard in the gym, we work hard everyday. It’s something that as a kid you dream about, being the champion, and I had it for a while. I had it in my hands, but it slipped away, and now I’m doing everything I can to be champion again.”
The Mexican boxer is expecting this fight to be the hardest fight of his career, but he views all his upcoming fights in a similar light.
“It could be the hardest fight of my career, yeah. The truth is that there are styles that go well together, and styles that make fights feel really uncomfortable. So, we can’t really say until the fight happens. A lot of times there are fights that people think are gonna be wars, but you end up finishing the fight very easily, or there could be fights that are truly wars when no one was expecting it. But I do think this fight will be a war, because of the styles. ‘El Vaquero’ Navarrete’s style and my style accommodate each other well for a great fight.
“To me, it’s the hardest fight of my life, because it’s the fight I have ahead of me, all my fights I take with a lot of respect, and a lot of focus. I consider myself a very disciplined boxer, I take things seriously, I'm a professional in the gyms, we train really hard considering the game plan for the boxer we’re gonna be facing.
Valdez continued, “Right now, it is the biggest fight of my life, because of the chance to return to champion, take the title, and face a dangerous fighter. With ‘El Vaquero’ Navarrete, you can’t rule him out as a fighter, in his last fight he got knocked down, but he showed a lot of heart, and came back. He’s a Mexican warrior in the ring. I’m going in with that mentality,
“I’m facing ‘El Vaquero’ Navarrete, a world champion. A boxer that always gives his all in the ring, you can send him to the canvas, but don’t rule him out. In his last fight he went down, but by the end he turned it around, showed his heart, took out the claws, and knocked out his opponent. I’m well prepared to push myself to face the best version of ‘El Vaquero’ Navarrete.”
The two Mexicans will be going all out at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. While Valdez is realistic about the unpredictability of fights, as mentioned before, he clearly is all heart and has an iron will to give the best fight yet. He reflects on why he thinks this fight will be such a good one.
“More than anything, I think that the reason this fight is so big is because we’re both Mexican, we’re two Mexicans that will give everything to win.
“We’ve both said it, apart from winning, we want to put on a good show. So we aren’t showing up just to jab or to run around the ring, we’re trying to give you a good fight.”
