While most of the focus of
the boxing world will be centered on the fourth chapter of the Manny
Pacquiao - Juan Manuel Marquez rivalry at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday evening,
leading up to this night, Top Ranks’ future will be on display throughout the
week. On Friday, two-time Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez makes his second pro
outing at the Texas Station Casino versus Corben Page in a six-rounder. About a
month ago, he successfully made his pro debut in Sonora, Mexico, halting Angel
Prado in two rounds.
It was the first step in
what could be long and fruitful journey for the hard-hitting Valdez.
“I was a little nervous; I
gotta admit. It was something different,” he said the day after Thanksgiving at
the Elite MMA Academy in Santa Fe Springs. “I wasn't really nervous about
getting hit; I was nervous to see how I was going to look in front of my crowd.
So I was ready to see if I'm meant for the pro world but [as] I was going
towards the ring, I was nervous and then it all went away. When I went in the
ring, I just did my thing and it went all good.”
In what was an impressive
display of power-punching, Valdez stopped Prado. His strength is accentuated
now that he can sport eight-ounce gloves.
“Most of my friends are
professionals already, so they were all giving me advice, ‘You're going to feel
real different.’ They would tell me, ‘How do you feel?’ I'd tell them, ‘Yeah, I
feel a little nervous.’ They'd say, ‘Relax; you're going to feel real good,’
and then I put the eight-ounce gloves on and they felt real light, real small
and felt like my punches were harder. So I started getting a little more
confidence in myself again,” said Valdez. But of course, there's a flipside to
wearing smaller gloves that makes your hands feel so fast and hard - your
opponents also get to hurl them at you. And for the first time, Valdez was
without headgear. “I felt lighter; they couldn't hit me anymore,” he explained
of his maiden voyage as a pro. “I had to correct a lot of errors I did in the
amateurs. I can't lock up like I did in the amateurs. I have to protect myself
a lot more but I felt like I was doing good. I felt a lot lighter. It felt good
in the pro world.”
Asked if he was more
relieved or excited in getting the whole ordeal over with, Valdez answered, “It
was a mixture of both.”
This is probably the same
range of emotion his manager, Frank Espinoza (who put up a pretty penny to sign
Valdez) had. Espinoza, who has handled the careers of Martin Castillo, Israel
Vazquez, Enrique Sanchez, Abner Mares and Daniel Ponce de Leon, among others,
believes Valdez is perhaps the best young amateur talent he has ever inked. He
wasn't disappointed by what he witnessed that night in Mexico. “I think Oscar
flashed a lot of potential. I know there are things he needs to work on but
really you could see the natural talent and excitement he brings to the table,”
Espinoza stated.
Todd duBoef, president of
Top Rank, remarked, “I thought his pro debut, he did really well. I think it's
the toughest type of fight to have for a first fight out with no headgear and
eight-ounce gloves. I thought he got a little anxious in the second round when
he wanted to put the guy out. But that's all part of experience and he fought a
real crafty, tough guy. This guy was no blowover; he was not your normal pro
debut kind of opponent and he used his speed against him, used his accuracy,
counterpunched him, worked upstairs, worked downstairs. Did a lot of good
things. I'd say the only criticism you'd have to say is that he should've been
a little more patient and when you get the guy hurt, there's no reason to get
into an exchange when you're controlling the fight. That will come with
experience.”
Valdez’s fan-friendly style
is one of the reasons why Top Rank targeted him coming out of London.
“We earmarked him as one of
the top guys coming out of the Olympics,” explained duBoef. “First of all, you
have to look at A) his bilingual aspect. He comes off incredibly marketable,
both English and Spanish is fluent, has a good clean look to him and when you
watch him fight, it's just so telegenic. He is just an action fighter, works
the body - you don't usually see that from the amateur-type of style. We just
think that he has great potential and obviously, hailing from a great hotbed in
Mexico, it makes everything come together.” Espinoza, who trailed Valdez for a
better part of a year leading into the Olympics, says, “When I saw him, I saw a
future pro. His style may not have been suited to win an Olympic gold medal or
anything like that but I felt this was a kid whose best days were in front of
him.”
While his regular trainer
works out his visa issues in Mexico, training Valdez for this upcoming fight is
Clemente Medina. The veteran cornerman, who currently works with WBC super
bantamweight titlist Abner Mares and Carlos Molina (who faces Amir Khan on
December 15th) says of Valdez, “This kid has everything. He has
speed, body-shots, combinations, good jab, movement. I think Frank Espinoza got
the best Olympian, the next champion of the world.”
But Medina does add, “I want
to start working on the right hand.” The goal is to make Valdez a more
complete, well-rounded, two-handed fighter. As for the left hook, well, that’s
something he was seemingly born with.
“Every trainer I've ever
had, starting with my dad, would tell me, ‘You have a good hook’ and I would
just go to the body and I would see if it would work. It would work a lot in
the amateurs and people in the amateurs would tell me, ‘It's going to work a
lot in the pros.’ So I just kept on using it and using it and it keeps on
working,” said Valdez, who is just 21 years old. Punchers are born, not made,
and Valdez has naturally heavy hands and an affinity for attacking the body
with his left hook.
Now he goes again in a week
when the sport will be in both the domestic and international spotlight.
“It's a great opportunity
for Oscar to be introduced to the American media who will be out there and aren't
really familiar with him just yet. We're not putting a lot of pressure on him
or anything but we know that they're going to be intrigued by what they see.
The plan all along with Top Rank was to bring him along at the right pace and
this fight here was just perfect timing,” said Espinoza.
But for Valdez, first and
foremost, this is a business trip.
“I'm excited because I'm
going to fight, mostly. I'm not thinking about other things. But yeah, after my
fight, I'm excited to see a big fight like Marquez and Pacquiao, so it's going
to be very exciting. So I'm giving my best in the gym and we'll see what happens.”
Yeah, it's all part of the
job now; Valdez is officially a professional prizefighter. But he says, “I
don't see it as a job. I do it because it's fun. I have a lot of friends who
are Olympians, gold medalists from different sports and they all tell me the
same thing, ‘Don't do the sport because of money; just have a good time.’ And
that's how it is for me. I love being in the gym; I love boxing. So honestly,
nothing's missing. I don't need money; I'm not struggling for money. So right
now, I'm doing it for the fun.”
 Felix Verdejo |
THE FUTURE
Also being showcased this
week by Top Rank are fellow 2012 Olympians Felix Verdejo of Puerto Rico and
American Jose Ramirez, who will be participating in their first pro bouts.
“We identify fighters of a certain quality, a certain charisma, a certain ‘it’
factor and I think both Valdez and Verdejo have that ‘it’ factor. A lot of it
now is the development and how you bring them along. But I would say
specifically with Verdejo, it's a market in Mexico which I felt really responsible
for bringing back in 2000 and developing it and knowing how to build a market
over there around a guy who is very young, has a lot of charisma himself and
has an unlimited amount of ability and he's a puncher. Those are the types of
qualities we look for in young prospects,” said duBoef.
DuBoef became aware of
Verdejo, a lightweight, after the buzz he created on social media platforms
during his run in the Summer Games. Top Rank guided Miguel Cotto to stardom
after the 2000 Olympics but duBoef says of any comparisons, that Verdejo has a “Trinidad
left hook, more than Cotto.” Verdejo makes his pro debut on Thursday at the
Mirage and his fight will be a part of the ESPN2 broadcast.
A few weeks ago, Top Rank
inked Ramirez to a promotional pact. Ramirez breaks the seal on his pro career versus
Corey Seigwarth on Saturday night on the Pacquiao-Marquez undercard.
 Jose Ramirez |
“Jose Ramirez has shown
really shown a phone booth style. He's a big kid, lanky; he has incredible
credentials. He comes from California, Hispanic heritage, where his family's
primary language is Spanish and he earned it the hard way. He seems like a
dedicated and hard-working kid and is a very polished amateur and we're going
to look in the long run what his abilities are going to be,” said duBoef, who
believes that Ramirez, who fought as an amateur at 132 pounds, will benefit from
boxing at a higher weight. “Freddie Roach said to me that [this was] the kid
that impressed him the most - this is after we signed him - when he was working
with the [Olympic] team. He said he's a hard worker and tough as hell.”
This weekend will be about
Pacquiao and Marquez, two Top Rank stalwarts who, along with the likes of
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Brandon Rios and Nonito Donaire, form one of the
strongest stables in all of boxing. But things can change quickly in this
sport. Today's marquee attraction can become an afterthought in one night. One
eye has to always be on the future.
“Today, in my business, is
over with. Today is yesterday's world,” duBoef states.”It doesn't do me any
benefit thinking about today. As much as I do a lot of the events for today and
for what we're working on, a lot of my thoughts are always going towards the
future. I'm not looking at six months; I'm not looking at a year. I'm looking
at three and five-year clips and these are cornerstones that are part of that three-to-five-year
and even 10-year clips. That's who I'm constantly looking at that business
model.
“If I'm short-sighted, I
lose a lot of insight into how our business should work.”
TIX
Here's the ticket info for the February 9th card at the Barclays
Center that has unified junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia facing Zab
Judah in Brooklyn: Tickets, priced at $200, $100,
$50 and $25 area available for purchase at www.barclayscenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com, the
American Express Box Office at Barclays Center, all Ticketmaster locations or
by calling 800-745-3000.
As for the card that takes place on January 19th at the Theater featuring
Gennady Golovkin-Gabe Rosado, Orlando Salido-Mikey Garcia and Juan Carlos
Burgos-Rocky Martinez, I'm told those tickets will go on sale later this week
with similar prices to that of the card at the Barclays Center.
FIGHT WEEK FLURRIES
Showtime announced that the Austin Trout-Miguel Cotto broadcast did
record-breaking numbers with a peak of 1.4 million viewers on Saturday night
and an average viewing audience of 1.047 million...“Fight Night 36” on Bryant
Jennings will premiere Thursday night at 10 p.m., ET on NBC Sports Network...Luis
Ramos faces Ricardo Williams on Saturday night from Anaheim on Fox Sports Net/Deportes...It
looks like a fight between featherweights Ronny Rios and Rico Ramos will
headline the January 11th edition of “ShoBox”...Don't know about you
guys but I like what Nick Foles showed in Sunday night’s loss to the Cowboys. He looked like the Eagles quarterback of the future regardless of the coach...Even
though he wasn't invited to New York, I think Marqise Lee of USC was as
impressive as any player in the land this past season...Bret Beliema leaving
Wisconsin for Arkansas stuns me...
