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Vasyl Lomachenko has officially vacated his WBO featherweight title after moving up to 130 pounds to knock out Roman Martinez; as a result, Saturday’s bout between Oscar Valdez and Matias Rueda, which serves as the co-main event for Terence Crawford vs. Viktor Postol, has been upgraded to a twelve-round title fight.
The decision makes sense from a rankings perspective, as the WBO has the two listed at #1 and #2, respectively. Valdez (19-0, 17 KO) is certainly worthy to fight for a belt, especially considering his utter thrashing of the ever-tough Evgeny Gradovich last April. Rueda (26-0, 23 KO) owns the organization’s "Latino" title, so at least he has that going for him.
Regardless of whether we think it’s title-worthy, it’s a done deal, giving Saturday’s pay-per-view a little more gravitas and confirming Lomachenko’s continued adventures at super featherweight. This enough to get you to dish out $49.99 for the show?