By Sean Jones: Shakur Stevenson came to the defense of Oscar Valdez on Monday, telling fans to “stop discrediting him” after his loss last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
People have been calling the former two-division world champion Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) a “bum” due to the way that Shakur (18-0, 9 KOs) defeated him in their main event fight last Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Valdez came into the fight as the unbeaten WBC 130-lb champion, but Stevenson had too much talent, using his quick reflexes, footwork, and speed to pound out a one-sided decision by the scores 117-110, 118-109, and 118-109.
It’s not the end for the 31-year-old Valdez because he can still win world titles once Shakur vacates his belts, and goes up in weight to 135.
Depending on which belts Valdez goes after, he’ll have an excellent chance of becoming a world champion. As long as Valdez stays away from these fighters, he should be okay:
- Jeremia Nakathilia
- Robson Conceicao
- Shavkat Rakhimov
“That was one of my best performances because Oscar Valdez was a tough fighter, who came to win,” said Shakur Stevenson to Sky Sports Boxing about his win over Oscar Valdez last Saturday.
Valdez defended his tittle at 126 about 6 times he moved up to 130 fought the “Boogeyman” Berchelt for the title and beat him up then knocked him out – Pls stop discrediting him he’s a hellavu fighter and champion and when his career is over he will go down in the history books
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) May 2, 2022
“I heard a lot of people asking me if this moment was going to be too much for me. I heard you ask that” Shakur continued.
“I told y’all that I shine the bright in the highest moment. I’m a superstar and I’m going to continue to be a superstar of the sport. Most definitely, that’s probably what I’m aiming for,” said Stevenson when asked if his next goal is to be the undisputed at super-featherweight.
“I want to go home, rest up and come up with a game plan and execute it. You got to realize that Valdez feeds off if you move too much. At times, I want to stand there, touch his body and break him down.
“I kind of saw that he had a soft side to Valdez. I never knew he had a soft side, but I seen it tonight. You only got one life. You got to enjoy the moment, have fun and I told myself that I’m going to have fun, smile through everything and we’re going to get through this.
“I deserve it,” said Shakur about him deserving to be on the pound-for-pound list. “Put me top ten, top five, wherever you want to put it. I deserve it. I came in there and I fought Jamel Herring, and then I fought Oscar Valdez right back to back. I feel I deserve to be pound-for-pound.
“Because of the crowd because I walked out and they were booing me. I’m like, okay, and I had to shut them up. Once I shut them up, I had to let them know like, ‘Shhh.’
“No matter if they hate me, I love them. Nothing but respect, and I love the fact that they came out to support me and support Valdez. I don’t have no bad feelings towards them. I just wanted to shut them up,” said Stevenson.
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