Oscar Valdez (33-3, 24 COs) had a harder time than expected time to defeat his set opponent Ricky Medina (16-4, 9 COs) by a unanimous 10-round decision in a super-featherweight contenders Saturday night in the Domo Binacional in quite, Mexico.
The former world champion with two divisions, Valdez, 34, came into a must-win situation after losing three of his last five battles. Tonight he applied constant pressure to the younger and greater 24-year-old Medina. Yet it was not an easy battle for Valdez, as he was constantly hit by his younger opponent.
The scores were 100-89, 100-89 and 99-91.
Medina took a lot of punishment in rounds four and five. Between rounds, he had the appearance of an ominous fighter because of all the shots that Oscar ended up on him. However, he did not give up and continued to fight back and land nice power shots, forcing Valdez to hold on to if he got close.
Valdez landed big blows in the eighth and ninth rounds, but Medina took them well. The bumps that Valdes knocked out many opponents in his best years on Featherweight had no influence on Medina. Valdez is not the same at 130 as when he fed Featherweight from 2012 to 2019.
In the 10th round, Medina fought hard, took Valdez’s best shots and taken back as well as possible. Valdez tried hard to get the knockout. When Medina held on, he would shake off and keep swinging. You can see the frustration in Valdez’s face while fighting in the last minute. He wanted the knockout, but his strength did not move the larger Medina.
At the end of the fight, Valdez looked like an unfortunate camper when Medina congratulated him. The younger fighter glad he did the distance with the former world champion in the division. Oscar looked miserable and understandable.
His opponent, Medina, is a fighter he was supposed to strike because he is not a world-class contender. After losing two out of his last three fights in losses to Emanuel Navarrete, Medina was a man who was expected to strike Valdez. The fact that he was not a strong sign that his vision of becoming a world champion at Super Featherweight again probably won’t happen.
Last updated on 09/07/2025
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