A lot of people doubted Oscar Valdez heading into this fight against Miguel Berchelt, myself included. Berchelt is a powerful fighter, and sometimes when you look at a situation on paper -- the X's and O's, the resumes and at their last fight -- it can lead you to a certain conclusion.
Valdez, in his last fight, didn't look anywhere near as good as he did against Berchelt. It was easy to let doubts creep into your mind, like maybe he was on the downslope.
But just because you're bigger doesn't mean you're going to win. You have to give all of the praise to Valdez, who had a plan from long before the fight even began. He picked on the boogeyman of the junior lightweight division because he knew Berchelt could bring the best out of him. And that's exactly what happened.
Sometimes you need that level of challenge to motivate you to a peak-level performance. Then you add all of the doubters and to Valdez, who has been a winner all of his life, he clearly used that as even more fuel to the fire in these crucial moments. Valdez used that criticism and that doubt as power to do something that was seemingly beyond himself.
So how did Valdez do it? He started by using what would seem to be a disadvantage to create an edge. He's the shorter man, and Valdez was able to establish the jab on Berchelt because Berchelt attacks the same way every time -- right down the middle.
That's the first thing -- Valdez established a ring presence with his jab, and it was on the money. When you take this approach, you get your opponent looking for the jab, and that enabled Valdez to come around with the left hook from different angles to surprise Berchelt. When Berchelt brought that right hand forward and missed, Valdez came around with that beautiful left hook. He landed it at all three key moments in the fight.
Then there's the movement. When you have a guy who's heavy on the front foot like Berchelt, who likes an opponent who sits still so that he can work his offense, what do you do? You move on him. You turn him, and then you keep turning him.
That's what Valdez did -- he turned him and turned him and turned him. That forced Berchelt to keep resetting. He kept having to look where Valdez was, and as he was turning in spots, Valdez was using that moment of reset to land his combinations while keeping his distance.
There were a few scary moments, but Valdez never panicked. If he got up against the ropes, you saw him step in and tie up with Berchelt to stop his momentum from coming forward. These are the tactics that were drilled into Valdez during his training camp. A fighter is going to do what he's taught, and his team put Valdez on the right path and gave him the right approach to beat a guy as strong as Berchelt.
He didn't fight fire with fire and stand in there for long stretches -- that's ring IQ. The smartest and most prepared fighter is typically going to win the majority of the time. Floyd Mayweather proved over and over that while punchers always have a chance, that chance depends on their opponents sitting in front of them and trading for that chance to be more realistic.
Valdez refused to stand directly in front of Berchelt and absorb any of those punches coming forward for an extended period of time.
There was one particularly scary spot, after Valdez knocked down Berchelt the first time in the fourth round, when Berchelt started to recover from that shot and he was relentlessly coming forward like he was on autopilot. But with that relentless momentum moving forward, he was starting to get inside, and that's where he's very dangerous.
You could start to see a little bit of wear on the face of Valdez from a few too many of those shots breaking through and connecting as he was trying to get away and make space. The smartest thing he did, after he weathered that storm, he came out the next round and basically hit the parking brake to reset the momentum. He flipped the script.
Valdez stepped to Berchelt when he wasn't expecting it, started unleashing combinations and hurt Berchelt enough to back him off somewhat, which bought him some time. From there, Valdez fell back into his rhythm and started switching off, fighting out of southpaw. He was fighting from whatever angle he could move in. He switched, gave a different look, and confused Berchelt from angles that he hadn't seen before. Then he switched again.
Valdez's movement, fluidity and combinations added up to the perfect game plan against a violent puncher, a combination puncher, in Berchelt. And Valdez followed through and executed that plan.
The final moments of the fight were some of the most impressive for Valdez. At the end of the 10th round, Valdez was moving to his left, trying to get off the ropes, and Berchelt followed him in a straight line. Berchelt was throwing some wild punches and missed with a left, a right, and then another left. As Valdez was dodging that third punch, it left Valdez in a position where he basically was squatting for a moment.
With Berchelt wide open and moving forward, Valdez was able to take all of that weight that was resting on his left leg to spring forward with all of that weight and put maximum momentum behind that left hook. That's how he was able to generate so much power and knock Berchelt out cold.
It was the same punch that he landed against Velez. He allowed Velez to come in, he moved on an angle, and he hit that saving grace, that signature punch that he depends on so much and uses so well.
Overall, it was a beautiful performance. That was all-time great stuff. I don't care what Berchelt and Valdez do from here on out, that fight will be remembered for a long time to come. That's how you become legendary in this sport, when you put on these types of performances and you're willing to risk it all against the baddest guy in the division.