A real war awaits boxing fans at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, when Mexican Oscar Valdez and American Shakur Stevenson step into the ring in a Super featherweight division unification fight. The odds have Stevenson as the overwhelming favorite, but former World Champion Tim Bradley doesn’t believe in them.
“He gonna come and throw a lot of punches, try to put pressure on me, try to turn it into a fight. There’s no way he can win that type of fight. He’s not smart enough, he’s not technically sound enough to do that. I feel like he throw a lot of hooks. That’s his game plan. That’s who he is.” stated Stevenson (17-0-0, 9 KOs)about Valdez to Boxing Scene.
On the other hand, the Mexican World Champion (30-0-0, 23 KOs)dismissed the fact of being considered as the one who will lose the battle, as he is confident in his abilities: “It doesn’t offend me at all. On the contrary, it motivates me.I love the fact that I’m the underdog. It brings more motivation to me.”.
Tim Bradley breaks down Valdez vs Stevenson and says upset could happen
Oscar Valdez, Shakur Stevenson and Tim Bradley have in common that they are two-division World Champions, so they understand each other perfectly. The retired Desert Storm took the time to analyze what can happen in this clash of undefeated fighters at 130 pounds, where he opts not to pay attention to the odds.
“Valdez has 10 championship fights, Stevenson has four. He has experience over Shakur and you can’t buy experience. If Shakur comes in too safe and I don’t think he does, but if he does because he wants to give a spectacular performance. That’s in his mind, ‘I want to become a star.’ He can get caught.“, said Bradley to Fight Hub TV.
Oscar Valdez can absorb massive amount of damage. (Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
Likewise, Tim Bradley specifically pointed out which of Valdez’s punches Shakur Stevenson has to watch out for, since, with less experience and fewer wars fought than his opponent, there is still uncertainty about the stamina of his jaw.
“Oscar can set him up while allowing him to hit him. ‘Hit me’and then he can connect from anywhere. That left hook is very good, accurate, on point and does damage. We don’t know how Shakur is going to react. We know how Oscar will. This guy fought with a broken jaw for 10 rounds, but we don’t know how Shakur will react.“, said the former Super lightweight and Welterweight titlist.
