Former two-division world champion Oscar Valdez, who lost to Shakur Stevenson in 2022, has given a fair assessment of the Newark man’s upcoming showdown with Teofimo Lopez.
The pair will square off for Lopez’s WBO super-lightweight title at Madison Square Garden, New York, on January 31, with Stevenson looking to become a four-weight world champion.
Many expect this to be a battle between the slippery southpaw skills of Stevenson and the sheer athleticism and unpredictability of Lopez, who comes off a comprehensive points victory over Arnold Barboza Jr.
Most notably, ‘The Takeover’ was able to dethrone Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor in 2020 and 2023, respectively, but has repeatedly fallen into the trap of producing sub-par performances against lesser-known fighters.
Still, the 28-year-old has largely established himself as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter, with just the one defeat coming against George Kambosos Jr in 2021.
Stevenson, on the other hand, has remained far more consistent at world level, most recently defending his WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda in July.
Prior to that, the technician’s most praise-worthy win arrived against Valdez, the then-WBO super-featherweight champion, who he outboxed through large spells of their 12-round contest.
But despite having previously found himself on the receiving end of a Stevenson boxing lesson, Valdez nonetheless views his former opponent’s fight with Lopez as a 50/50 matchup.
Speaking with Fight Hub TV, the Mexican ultimately decided to refrain from picking a winner.
“It’s going to be a chess game inside that ring, because Teofimo Lopez is a tremendous athlete.
“I’ve seen him with both eyes – the way he trains; his ability to do different things inside the ring is abnormal.
“But you’ve got Shakur Stevenson, the best fighter, defensive-wise, that’s out there. I honestly look at it as a 50/50 [fight].”
Valdez also admitted to sharing a close friendship with Lopez but, even when removing any bias from the equation, he still cannot seem to select a clear winner.
