Oscar Valdez Returns with Victory against Richard Medina
The former two-division world champion, Oscar Valdez, secured a unanimous decision victory over Richard Medina in a 10-round featherweight bout. The event took place at the Domo Binacional in Nogales, Mexico, Valdez’s hometown.
This matchup marked Valdez’s return to the ring after his technical knockout loss in the sixth round against Emanuel Navarrete in December, where he lost the WBC super lightweight title.
The judges’ scorecards reflected a wide difference, with scores of 100-90, 98-92, and 97-93. Despite this, Medina (16-4, 9 KOs) maintained strong pressure throughout the fight, while Valdez (33-3, 24 KOs) defended against his advances without managing to hurt his opponent.Oscar Valdez recovered from his technical knockout loss in the sixth round against Emanuel Navarrete in December with a unanimous decision victory over Richard Medina.Valdez, 34 years old, started strong, connecting punches and keeping his jab to prevent Medina from cornering him. However, his opponent proved to have great resistance.
In the intermediate rounds, Medina gained momentum and managed to connect several blows. Valdez was affected and could not prevent Medina from advancing.
In the eighth round, Valdez regained control, connecting punches that knocked out Medina’s mouthguard. Despite this, Medina, 24, was never in danger and continued to advance.
It was clear that Valdez, former featherweight and super featherweight champion, had lost speed. Despite this, he showed the heart of a champion and closed strong to return to the path of victory.
In his last five fights, Valdez has alternated wins and losses, since his defeat to Shakur Stevenson in 2022.
