By Austin Killeen      June 8, 2019

Avalanches, rock slides, blizzards, falls, altitude sickness, freezing temperatures, exhaustion and combinations thereof have all proven fatal to climbers attempting to conquer Mount Everest. Boxers attempting to conquer Mount Valdez only have to fear one obstacle, a hail storm of leather. Twenty-five fighters have tried and twenty-five fighters have failed, most painfully. Last Saturday Andy Ruiz upset Anthony Joshua for IBF, WBA and WBO versions of the Heavyweight Championship. Some local fans feel this is a sign that a big upset will take place again this Saturday at Reno-Sparks Convention Center, in Reno, Nevada. There is only one way that an upset will take place on June 8^th, and that would be the result of Jason Sanchez fists. If you believe in miracles, I doubt if any will take place in Reno on Saturday night.

 

 

To clearly illustrate the enormity of the task facing Albuquerque’ favorite son, I’ve compared the last five fights of both Valdez and Sanchez at the time they faced their opponents.

Oscar Valdez: (25-0-0 20 KO’)

2019-02-02 Carmine Tommasone (W 19 L 0 D 0, 5 KO’s)

2018-03-10 Scott Quigg                      (W 34 L 1 D 2, 25 KO’s)

2017-09-22 Genesis Servania          (W 29 L 0 D 0, 12 KO’s)

2017-04-22 Miguel Marriaga            (W 25 L 1 D 0, 21 KO’s)

2016-11-05 Hiroshige Osawa           (W 30 L 3 D 4, 19 KO’s)

Jason Sanchez: (14, 0, 0, 7 KO’s)

2019-02-02 Daniel Olea                      (W 13 L 7 D 2, 5 KO’s)

2018-10-31 Jean Carlos Rivera        (W 15 L 0 D 0, 10 KO’s)

2018-03-17 German Merez             (W 58 L 46 D 2, 35 KO’s)

2017-11-11 Stephon McIntyre        (W 3   L 36 D 4, 1 KO’s)

2017-04-01 Gene Perez                     (W 1   L 8 D 1, 0 KO’s)

 

The combined records Oscar Valdez and Jason Sanchez Opponents

Oscar Valdez’s opponents:   Bouts 148 Wins 137 loses 5 draws 6 KO’s 82

Jason Sanchez’s opponents: Bouts 193 Wins 90 loses 97 draws 6 KO’s 51

Comparing the records of the last five opponents each fighter faced, clearly favors Valdez. His rivals only had 5 loses in 148 bouts, while Sanchez’s opponents had 97 loses in 193 bouts. If Sanchez had to face any of Valdez’s last five opponents in the ring, he would probably be the betting underdog in every contest. Comparing the individual records of Valdez and Sanchez also indicates that the champion has the better punch. In short, the betting establishments in Reno, Nevada show little love for “Duke City” boxer making Valdez the prohibitive favorite in tonight’s featherweight title bout.

So what does Sanchez have going for him, other than his lucky rabbit’s foot; a foot that wasn’t very lucky for the rabbit? Valdez is currently in negotiations with Carl Frampton for a big money in the fight in the fall. This raises the question of how serious is he taking Sanchez. When the opening bell sounds, if Valdez is dreaming about all the money he’ll be making in his next fight with Frampton he could actually find himself sleeping. Sanchez has a brutal left jab, a battering left jab that knocks down doors. Featherweight champ Leo Santa Cruz has a beautiful jab that sets up all his other punches. That does not describe the jab of Sanchez; he is more like former heavyweight champ Sonny Liston with the intention of putting you to sleep.

 

In preparation for this fight, Sanchez had two sparring partners brought in from Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard, California. This is the best training camp in the young career of “El Alacrancito”, meaning he’ll be focused when the bell rings. Sanchez will not be thinking about his next fight, he’ll be thinking about what’s standing in the other corner. He’s a hard body, who is very durable and not likely to fold from the first combination fired his way.

Jason Sanchez is a huge underdog, but he’s a live underdog looking to bring back a belt to the Land of Enchantment.” He’s done the hard work in preparation for tonight and only sees one outcome, victory!