All Photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
The fight was the main event of a Top Rank PPV tripleheader that also included Gilberto Ramirez and Jessie Magdaleno.
In what was the toughest fight of his career thus far, Valdez, a 26-year-old native of Mexico, used his jab and footwork land shots on the outside while Marriaga spent the entire fight pressuring Valdez.
Marriaga, a 30-year-old native from Columbia, spent most of the fight coming forward and landing overhand rights and counter uppers and hooks to the more elusive Valdez. And though Valdez landed the harder shots, Marriaga seemed to land more of them–though Valdez was good at rolling and slipping the punches.
In Round 10, the most important round of the fight, Marriaga pushed forward as usually, using volume rather than strength to wear Valdez down. However, while being pushed against the ropes, Valdez timed a perfect left hook that dropped Marriaga.
Then, Valdez went for the kill and almost got it. As the kill appeared to go away, Valdez bowed his head as Marriage let shots flow around it, with Valdez slipping and moving–waiting for the opportunity to land yet another perfect left hook.
The round–and the fight–would end before he could land hard enough left hook to drop him or stop him.
Valdez won with scores of 119-108, 116-111 and 118-109, though the scores do not do justice to how close the fight was.
In his post-fight interview, Valdez stated that he was willing to unify the title against the likes of Leo Santa Cruz or Gary Russell Jr.
What do you think of Valdez’s performance? Let us know in the comments section below.
