Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Chris Korman

Oscar Valdez’s thunderous knockout of Miguel Berchelt stunned the boxing world

Oscar Valdez stopped Miguel Berchelt with a thunderous knockout with one second left in Round 10 of their junior lightweight bout Saturday night.

Valdez, a 30-year-old from Mexico, was an underdog but bothered Berchelt, his 29-year old countryman, all night with his quickness and a relentless barrage of left hooks and jabs to claim the WBC super featherweight belt at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Valdez landed 50 more punches that Berchelt (149 to 99) and it showed, as many on Twitter were calling for the fight to be stopped before the final sequence that left Valdez — who had lost only one pro fight, in 2014 — sprawled on the mat.

There’s that left hand again.

Berchelt stayed down on the canvas for several frightening minutes before being taken to a nearby hospital. A CT scan reportedly came back clear and he was expected to be released, according to his camp.

We’re early in the year, obviously, but the Twitter hype train immediately dubbed this the knockout of the year. I’m not sure that we should be giving that title to a punch thrown at a clearly staggered fighter, but let’s look at some angles of this anyway.

Here’s my favorite one. Slow motion makes you realize exactly how Valdez won against the bigger fighter:

Valdez, who was raised in Arizona, previously held the WBO featherweight title and is a two-time Olympian. His win moves him to 29-0 with 23 knockouts and sets up a potential fight with former American Olympian Shakur Stevenson, who won Silver in Rio and is 15-0 in his professional career.

Stevenson was in attendance last night:

And had one clear takeaway from that stunning win:

Valdez heard that Stevenson wanted to fight and said, “Let’s do it. I just want to keep on fighting and give the fans what they want.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
The Hidden Effects of Screen Time on Children's Health, Sleep, and Development
Discover how excessive screen time affects children's health, sleep, and development, and learn practical tips to manage digital habits for healthier, balanced growth.
Medical Daily
Medical Daily
Barry Keoghan: 'There’s a lot of hate online. It’s a lot of abuse of how I look'
Barry Keoghan has considered quitting acting due to abuse over his looks and says he finds it hard to deal with the comments.
BANG Premier
BANG Premier
Best thing I ever ate? My first In-N-Out burger in LA
Why the Double-Double is ‘the near perfect expression of burger-ness’
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
How AI English and human English differ – and how to decide when to use artificial language
Suspicion and affection. Apprehension and excitement. Most people have mixed feelings about AI English, whether or not they always recognize it. When reading text generated by AI, people feel it sounds off, or fake. When reading English by a human, people are more likely to feel it has a characteristic…
The Conversation
The Conversation
Delilah and Me
Back in 2002, I heard a great question, from Betchen and Paul Barber: Who cut off Samson's hair? Of course… The post Delilah and Me appeared first on Reason.com.
Reason
Reason
Why was Tim McGraw 'sobbing' in the street?
Tim McGraw started “sobbing” in the street in New York City when he found out he was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
BANG Premier
BANG Premier
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play