Valdez was magnificent. The game plan was perfect, the execution was just as good. He made Berchelt (37-2, 33 KO) look ponderous and even at times feeble, and I say that with great admiration and awe for Berchelt’s iron chin and even stronger will and determination. But Valdez took him apart. He was better in every way. It was a masterful performance.
So, y’know, now what?
As far as unification goes, Gervonta “Tank” Davis has the WBA belt, and that fight’s just not happening. It just isn’t. Until proven otherwise, Davis isn’t fighting non-PBC guys. The WBO title is in the Top Rank family, as we await a hopeful new March date for Jamel Herring vs Carl Frampton. Shakur Stevenson is with Top Rank, and he wanted Valdez at 126; Valdez moved up in weight when Stevenson was made his mandatory challenger. (Shakur, for what it’s worth, has “bashed” Valdez plenty, but did say he was impressed and surprised by Valdez’s win on Saturday.)
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Photos by Al Bello/Getty Images, Ethan Miller/Getty Images, and Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images
2020 is pretty much over in the boxing world, so now let’s look forward to 2021, which could be a big one for the sport if the big fights get made. We can say that every year, of course.
So let’s take a look at 10 picks for 2021 fights we want to see, or at least I want to see. There are a lot of other fights we could include here with bigger names Tank Davis vs Ryan Garcia! Jermall Charlo vs Demetrius Andrade! but we wanted to spread the love around some, too, and not get fixated on just the names. There’s more to boxing than just the names; OK, maybe there kind of isn’t in some ways, but it’d be nicer if there were.
Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images
Shakur Stevenson stepped in to fill a void and give Top Rank a main event to close out their 2020, and in the end took a rather ho-hum decision win over Toka Kahn Clary at the MGM Grand “Bubble” in Las Vegas.
Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO) won on scores of 100-90 across the board, which was the only score to have. Clary falls to 28-3 (19 KO) in the shutout defeat.
The 23-year-old Stevenson actually hurt Clary, 28, early in the fight, and it seemed in the first few rounds that he would end the fight when he wanted to, but if that’s the case, he never quite wanted to do it. More likely is Clary just didn’t give him a lot to work with overall, and Stevenson never really pressed. Shakur took this fight on a few weeks’ notice as did Clary, to be fair when the originally planned Miguel Berchelt vs Oscar Valdez fight fell through after Berchelt tested positive for COVID.