Oscar Valdez made mincemeat of Matias Rueda to claim the vacant WBO featherweight title.
In his 20th professional fight, Mexico"s Oscar Valdez claimed his first world title tonight, winning the vacant WBO featherweight built with a second round stoppage win over Argentina"s Matias Rueda, dropping his opponent twice on body shots.
Valdez (20-0, 18 KO) battered and bloodied Rueda (26-1, 23 KO) in the opening round, showing a clear class disparity between the two fighters, which was one of the two ways this could have gone. Rueda, who had never really been tested before getting this fight, was simply out of his depth against the very talented and aggressive Valdez, and in the second round, Valdez dropped him on a body shot, and finished him with another moments later. Referee Russell Mora waved the count for the TKO.
The 25-year-old Valdez still has a level or two to face in this division, levels he"s yet to fight at in his pro career, and those could tell us a different story. But for now, he does have claim to one quarter of the recognized featherweight championship of the world, and all he"s done is fight his best, and his best has been a lot of fun to watch so far.
Freddie Roach reacts to Terence Crawford vs Viktor Postol. Talks Pacquaio vs Crawford!
Ryota Murata, Lenny Zappavigna, and more picked up wins on tonight"s Crawford-Postol card.
The action is underway at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as the Crawford-Postol prelim bouts have concluded, and we are just under 40 minutes away from the main PPV broadcast.
Japanese middleweight prospect and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata stormed through George "Comanche Boy" Tahdooahnippah in the final preliminary fight of the evening, putting him away at 1:52 of the first round. Murata (11-0, 8 KO) crushed Tahdooahnippah (34-3-3, 24 KO) with a left hook to the body, a thunderous shot that put the Oklahoman on his knees. Tahdooahnippah took a count of eight, but once the fight resumed, Murata was all over him, bombing away in the corner until referee Benjy Esteves Jr stopped the fight.
Australias Lenny Zappavigna stopped Chinas IK Yang in the sixth round of a 143-pound catchweight bout, which brought the action expected. Not a super great, "go out of your way to watch it" sort of fight, but if you tuned in, this one was the highlight of the prelims. Zappavigna (35-2, 25 KO) hurt Yang (19-2, 14 KO) in the fourth round, but Yang came back nicely in that one, though Zappavigna took over again in the fifth. In the sixth, the Aussie started fast, landing a clubbing shot that hurt Yang. Zappavigna followed him into the corner, still throwing shots, and referee Vic Drakulich called a stop to the fight.
Detroit welterweight Edward Williams pretty easily handled Texan Christon Edwards, winning by unanimous decision over six rounds. Scores were 59-55, 59-55, and 58-56, the latter probably a round generous to Edwards (6-2, 3 KO). Williams (12-1-1, 4 KO) didnt show much power, but his length and height were enough to give Edwards trouble, as the younger man just couldnt close the gap.
Ukrainian middleweight Stanyslav Skorokhod was able to largely dominate his fight against a game Hakim Bryant, winning on unanimous scores of 59-53, 60-52, and 60-52. BLH had it 59-53 for Skorokhod, who scored two knockdowns in the opening round, and as the fight wore on and Bryant (6-1, 4 KO) clearly wasnt going to just go away, Skorokhod (11-1, 8 KO) just outboxed him, cruising (relatively speaking) to victory.
Omaha light heavyweight Steve Nelson improved to 3-0 (3 KO) with a fourth round stoppage of El Pasos Tim Meek (5-3-1, 3 KO), when Meeks corner waved the flag, and rightly so. Meek was dropped hard late in the first round, cut pretty badly in the third, and Nelson was hunting for the stoppage. The stoppage itself was odd, as a Nevada commission official ran into and then halfway across the ring to get referee Vic Drakulichs attention.
