Right after his big knockout win over Miguel Berchelt to win the WBC junior lightweight world title, Oscar Valdez fields some media questions about the fight and how he was able to put on such a spectacular showing.
Valdez on his immediate thoughts on the fight:
“It wasn’t a toe-to-toe fight, I think I had to box a little bit more but the most important thing is we got the job done. We got the victory. I hope everybody liked the fight and from here on, just keep on growing.”
On making adjustments to his style, going from his willingness to engage in slugfests to becoming a more cerebral fighter:
“We knew we could do way more than we’ve been doing in our last fights. That’s what gets me upset. We have great training camps and for some reason I wasn’t showing it inside the ring. So I said this before, I think Berchelt was gonna bring the best out of me. I could also box. I can also bang. I could also hit in the 130 division, and I said that to my opponent.
“I said ‘be careful if you’re looking for the knockout because you might find the knockout yourself, and it happened. I’m just thankful for all that, I’m happy with the improvement we’ve done with Eddy Reynoso, my father, and the great team we have, my manager. And we just want to keep on improving. There’s always things to learn.”
On what makes Reynoso such a good trainer:
“There’s just a lot of things. His work ethic in the gym — a lot of repetitions in the gym. Sometimes it can get a little boring in the gym going back to the basics, but if that’s what we got to do in order to keep on improving then that’s what we’re gonna do. I always want to learn from everybody, I always watch old tapes from my idols. I listen to what my trainer says, and I always watch other fighters. I always try to learn something different from other fighters, if it’s from Teofimo, if it’s from Canelo, if it’s from whatever fighter close to me that I’m seeing...
“A lot of people doubted me, a lot of boxing experts, analysis. I heard my idol Julio Cesar Chavez say ‘El Alacran’ Berchelt was gonna knock me out. And instead of hurting me, instead of getting me down, I used that as inspiration. I said ‘okay, I’m gonna prove you wrong.’ And I’m very happy I did.”