On May 20th, ESPN+ PPV will feature a rematch between former two-division world champion Oscar Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) and Adam Lopez (16-4, 6 KOs) in the super featherweight division, as the chief support bout on the Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) against Vasily Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) card in Las Vegas.
Valdez will face Lopez for the second time, four years after their initial meeting in November 2019. In that fight, Lopez dropped Valdez in the second round and gave him significant trouble before being stopped in the seventh round when Valdez launched a comeback.
Although boxing fans had hoped to see Valdez face Abraham Nova, whom he had defeated easily by unanimous decision in January 2022, Valdez’s management likely deemed Nova too tough an opponent for him following a 13-month layoff and his one-sided unanimous decision loss to Shakur Stevenson in 2022.
Lopez, aged 26, has lost only to solid fighters, including Abraham Nova, Isaac Dogboe, Stephen Fulton, and Oscar Valdez.
Valdez was originally scheduled to fight Emanuel Navarrete, but he suffered a rib injury in training, which caused the fight to be canceled. In the meantime, Navarrete defeated Liam Wilson by knockout in the ninth round to capture the vacant WBO super featherweight title
Image Credit: ESPN