Via Jeff Aaron: Tim Bradley says Oscar Valdez has a powerful left hook he could knock out Shakur Stevenson if he enters the fight “overconfident” on Saturday, thinking about how he wants to be a star .
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Two-time athlete Valdez (30-0.23 KOs) was the blunder from Stevenson (17-0.9 KOs) in treating him disrespectfully, placing him in the same category as 17 opponents who New Jersey natives have. fought like a pro.
Bradley still thinks Stevenson has a 98% chance of winning on Saturday, but the 2% chance Valdez has is based on his strength and he could get out of trouble at any time in the fight.
If Stevenson was careless in the tenth or eleventh minute on Saturday night and started performing in front of a crowd, thinking the battle was over, Valdez could knock him out with one of his big left hooks as he did with Miguel Berchelt.
“Try it and let Shakur down a bit. Shakur also likes to do it his way,” said Tim Bradley Against TV Hub about what Oscar Valdez needs to do to give him a chance to beat Shakur Stevenson on Saturday night.
“I think the kind of performance he needs to have is like Castillo did with Mayweather. Valdez has ten championship games. Stevenson has four,” Bradley continued. “He has experience on Shakur, and you can’t buy experience.”
It will be a little harder for Valdez to repeat what Jose Luis Castillo did to Floyd Mayweather Jr in their first bout as Stevenson backed off quickly after launching a punch.
He’s not like Mayweather, who stood and fought with Castillo, albeit against ropes. Stevenson will never stand still if he believes there is any chance Valdez will try to hit him.
“The problem is with Valdez, a lot of times his left hook gets him out of situations,” said Bradley. “God. If Shakur is overconfident, and I don’t think he will, but if he becomes overconfident because he wants to put on a spectacular performance. That’s his mindset, ‘I want to be a star.’ He could be arrested.
“Oscar can trap him while allowing him to hit me. ‘Hit me,’ and then explode out of nowhere. That left hook gives off a damn fan, too precise, like that for a point, and it’s damaging.
“We don’t know how Shakur will react. We know how Oscar will react. That guy fought with a broken jaw for ten rounds or so [against Scott Quigg in 2018]but we don’t know how Shakur will react.
“We can tell that he has some dogs on him. He can say all he wants, but when he’s in that situation, how will he react? I don’t know, but Valdez has to take that shot. Both guys are smart and know how to adjust. They are Olympic athletes,” Bradley said.
