Oscar Valdez (32-2 24 KOs) stopped Liam Wilson (13-3 7 KOs) in the seventh round in an important win to get his career back on track after suffering defeat last time out.
Now interim WBO super-featherweight champion, Valdez was ecstatic with the win, saying: “this victory means a lot to me, I proved a lot of people wrong.
“People said ‘you’re thirty something, you got your jaw broke, you’re done.’ But I refused to believe to that.”
The younger Wilson was aggressive early in the fight, but Valdez did a good job defensively as he landed counters on the back foot.
Although Wilson was getting tagged with counter punches, he continued to walk Valdez down and remained the much busier fighter in the early rounds.
Wilson exerting energy
Valdez was hoping Wilson would tire and in the sixth round showed his power as he landed straight right that shook Wilson and looked to have him hurt.
A brave Wilson regained his composure well and was able to force an attack of his own as the pair saw the round out.
By the seventh round Wilson’s aggression had started to take its toll on him as he looked to be exhausted and was bloodied from Valdez’s powerful counters.
A big flurry of punches midway through the seventh round landed and a tired, battered Wilson looked hurt forcing the referee stepped in to stop the contest.
Valdez, now 33 years old, will be hoping this is the first stage of rebuilding his late career and hope to reach the heights he has previously to challenge for world titles.
Estrada becomes Undisputed
During the co-main event Seniesa Estrada (26-0 9 KOs) became the first woman’s undisputed minimumweight world champion after she beat rival Yokasta Valle by unanimous decision.
After ten action packed rounds all the judges were in agreement on the scorecards which read 97-93 of Estrada to become became IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO.
Talking about becoming undisputed champion, Estrada said: “it’s something I have been wanting for a long time. It’s finally happened, and I accomplished my dreams.
“I am beyond overwhelmed and happy. I’m very competitive and want to be the best.”
The fight started at a frantic pace as both fighters met head on. Valle was the aggressor but seemed to struggle with Estrada’s awkward style.
Switching stances seemed to confuse Valle at times and Estrada was able to land her shots. A clash of heads in the first round opened a cut over Valle’s right eyes.
Valle was unhappy in the manor the cut happened and claimed Estrada purposefully used her head and caused the cut intentionally after the fight.
“I did feel it was intentional. I felt she did that coming towards me in the first round, and I had to struggle through that for the last nine rounds.”
Continuing the be the aggressor throughout the contest, Valle had her best success in rounds four and five, however, Estrada adapted and got back to boxing at range.
Still switching throughout Estrada was catching Valle with quality shots as she was controlling the distance
Boxing slick Estrada was in control of the fight for most of the rounds, feeling confident enough to throw in the occasional showboating at times as she outboxed Valle.
Valle had a busy last round and gave everything she had but it was too little too late and Estrada took home all four belts.