All photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Boxing fans in Tucson certainly got their money’s worth in an action packed night of boxing. Headliners, Oscar Valdez (23-0, 19 KOs) and Genesis Servania (29-1, 12 KOs) closed the show with fireworks as they both traded leather for all 12 rounds of the bout.
The fight would be contested for Valdez’ WBO Featherweight title and Servania was certainly game.
Valdez scored the unanimous decision victory but had to reach deep into his tank to secure this one. The undefeated Filipino fighter proved to be a tougher challenge than the champion had maybe hoped for. Valdez started off strong winning the early rounds but in the fourth, Valdez was floored to the canvas for the first time as a professional.
In the following round, Valdez scored a revenge knockdown and dropped Servania with a left hand. The fight began to unravel into gritty scrap between the two fighters, but as the rounds progressed Valdez began to outbox the Filipino pretty handily.
Heading into the later rounds it seemed as if Servania was mainly waiting or perhaps anticipating being able to land the one big shot that could knock down Valdez yet again. Unfortunately for him, the opportunity never presented itself again.
Servania scored one or two more rounds for himself but not enough to win it in the eyes of the judges who scored the bout 116-110, 119-111, and 117-109 respectively.
Despite getting the victory, Valdez will surely head to back to the drawing board to fine tune some of the habits that may have cost him a fall to the canvas tonight.
“I never thought I’d be on the canvas like that,” said Valdez. “Hey this is boxing. I wasn’t hurt but more surprised by the shot.”
In regards to his performance and his rival, Valdez acknowledged that the fight was very entertaining and that while he wanted to put on a show, he may have made mistakes in the process.
“I wanted to show fans a good fight and I got a little careless. I wanted to close the fight how I was supposed to and give the people a great show,” said Valdez.
Even though Valdez had another successful defense of his title, it’s difficult to put him in the elite class of fighters just yet. Perhaps a scrap like this one will help cure some of the flaws in his game and improve him as a fighter as he faces off against tougher opposition.
Valdez is also looking to unify his title and could see himself fighting a Leo Santa Cruz or Carl Frampton next.
