Oscar Valdez defeated defending champion Miguel Berchelt to secure the WBC super featherweight belt on Saturday after delivering a mighty left hook to knock him out at the end of the 10th.th round.
The win could lead Valdez into a fight with WBO Champion Shakur Stevenson, who was ringside at the MGM Grand Conference Center and said, “That’s the only fight to make right now.”
Berchelt did not move for a few seconds after a knockout and had to be assisted in a sitting position.
Valdez scored a knockdown in the fourth when the referee ruled that the ropes were holding Berchelt up. But Berchelt, who held the WBC super featherweight title since 2017 and is considered the world’s best active super featherweight, rallied mid-match.
“There is nothing better in life than to prove people wrong,” 30-year-old Valdez told reporters. “I have a list of people who doubted me. My idols doubted me. Boxing analysts doubted me. They said Berchelt was going to knock me out. I have a message for everyone: don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. “