Oscar Valdez vs Jayson Velez set for July 21st in Vegas

As reported a few days back, former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez will face Puerto Rico’s Jayson Velez in his return to action. Frank Espinoza, who manages Valdez, tells ESPN that the fight is “done” for July 21st, while Top Rank reports that the rest of the card is “still being formulated.”

The goal is still to pit Valdez (27-0, 21 KO) against Miguel Berchelt for the WBC super featherweight title later this year.

“That’s the fight we want next, that’s the one Oscar is aiming for. We’re hoping that by the fall there can be crowds at fights, because we know how much fans are anticipating it.”

Berchelt (37-1, 33 KO) will stay busy against Eleazar Valenzuela in Mexico on June 27th.

This is a solid interim matchup, one far riskier than Berchelt’s milk run against Valenzuela. Velez (29-6-1, 21 KO) only loses to quality fighters and Valdez had all sorts of trouble with a lesser fighter than Velez in Adam Lopez last December. It’s unclear whether Valdez’s valiant-to-a-fault slugging style will hold up against larger opposition, and Velez’s durability should make this a quality litmus test.