Óscar Valdez Next Fight: Looking At Possible Opponents After Impressive Win Over Liam Wilson

On Friday, March 29, Óscar Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) stopped Liam Wilson (13-3, 7 KOs) in the seventh round of an entertaining clash at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ, on a Top Rank Boxing card, with ESPN+ as the broadcasters for those in the United States. Following the impressive stoppage win for the Mexican, he spoke to Fight Hub TV and various media outlets about options for his next fight.

Óscar Valdez Next Fight: Possible Opponents

Recap of Valdez vs. Wilson

Wilson started brightly, pushing forward and outworking Valdez, with the Mexican staying on the back foot. Valdez began to land with more regularity in round two, drawing blood from the nose of his Australian opponent. Wilson had success with uppercuts, getting under the high guard of the Mexican. Both fighters often went head to head and traded punches, making this a back-and-forth clash, with the class of Valdez coming through in the middle rounds.

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The accuracy from the Mexican saw him take control and vary his attacks well to the head and body. Round seven saw Wilson on unsteady legs as Valdez smelt blood and kept landing, with nothing coming back from the Australian fighter, leading to referee Mark Nelson stopping the fight, awarding Valdez the victory by TKO.

Óscar Valdez Next Fight: O’Shaquie Foster

During a post-fight interview with various media outlets, Valdez was asked about O’Shaquie Foster and Luis Alberto Lopez being in attendance for his fight: “I have nothing but respect for O’Shaquie Foster. Nothing personal, but the best want to fight the best. Let’s bring old-school boxing back where the best fight the best, so I don’t care who it is, I’ll fight whoever,” said Valdez.

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Foster is the current WBC super featherweight champion, and a fight between him and Valdez would be intriguing. Foster has a great ring IQ and carries power late into his fights, as shown by his significant late knockdowns against Eduardo Hernandez and Abraham Nova. He also has great footwork and adapts well to different fighters. Valdez will have to close the distance well against Foster to gain a foothold in the fight.

Emanuel Navarrete Rematch

Valdez fought Emanuel Navarrete on August 12, 2023, with Vaquero winning by unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 118-110, and 119-109. Big Fight Weekend scored the contest 116-112 for Navarrete. During the post-fight press conference, Navarette was asked about his fellow Mexican and said: “I just hope he wins (Denys Berinchyk fight). I’m always rooting for the Mexican.” He continued: “No bad blood between me and Vaquerro. If we get a chance in the future (rematch), we would love it because we’ll fight anybody.”

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Navarrete is an exceptional volume puncher, who throws from varying, awkward angles, and a possible rematch between the two would undoubtedly be entertaining, but with Valdez now in possession of the WBO Interim belt following the win over Wilson and with Navarrete the full champion, due to take on Berinchyk for the vacant WBO title at 135lbs on May 18, making it unclear if he is prepared to drop down and rematch his fellow Mexican, or if he will vacate, leaving a potential unification fight against WBC titlist Foster the clear option.

Towards the end of the questions, Valdez was asked who he would want to face next, and he said: “I just wanna fight the best.”

“Anybody. We’d like to unify. Whoever has the belts, let’s go.