Oscar Valdez vs Andres Gutierrez Preview Nov. 30th
Former WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez will be putting his unbeaten record on the line this Saturday, November 30th when he takes on fellow Mexican Andres Gutierrez. The 10-round junior lightweight fight comes from the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and can be seen on ESPN + in America and BT Sport 1 in the UK. Valdez last fought in June when he beat Jason Sanchez by unanimous decision while Gutierrez’s last outing also came in June when he beat Tomas Rojas for the interim WBC Fecarbox Super Featherweight Title.
Valdez vs Gutierrez Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Andres Gutierrez +1150
- Oscar Valdez -10000
My Pick
The 28-year-old Valdez has moved back to Mexico from Tucson, Arizona where he grew up and enters the contest with a perfect record of with 26-0 with 20 Kos. He obviously has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 77 per cent, but he’s gone the distance in four of his last five bouts. He stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach. Valdez has 141 rounds of experience under his belt since turning pro in 2012. He had a stellar amateur career and is the only two-time boxing Olympian from Mexico. However he failed to win a medal at the 2008 or 2012 Games in Beijing and London.
Valdez did win a dozen medals in other international competitions though and had more than 200 amateur bouts. One of these included a loss to current world champion and pound-for-pound contender Vasyl Lomachenko. Valdez hasn’t been fighting a steady diet of Grade A boxers, but has beaten the likes of Scott Quigg, Miguel Marriaga, Hiroshige Osawa, Evgeny Gradovich, Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez, Alberto Garza and Ruben Tamayo. So far he’s had to go the distance just six times in his pro career, but as mentioned, he’s been taken the distance in four of his last five outings.
The 26-year-old Gutierrez enters the ring with an impressive record of 38-2-1 with 25 Kos. He’s 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 67-inch reach so he has about an inch height and reach advantage on the champion. He’s fought 253 rounds since turning pro in 2009 and has pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 61 per cent. Gutierrez’s first loss was a 12-round majority decision to former super flyweight world champion Cristian Mijares in June of 2016 and he dropped a 10-round technical decision to Abner Mares in 2017 in a shot at the WBA Featherweight title.
Gutierrez has won some minor regional titles up to now such as the WBC Silver Super Bantamweight Title, the WBC Fecarbox Featherweight Title, the IBF International Bantamweight Title and the WBC CABOFE Super Bantamweight Title. He’s not a bad boxer at all as he likes to let his hands go but at times can be a little bit reckless. If he can become a more accurate puncher then he should have a good future ahead of him. He’s shown a good chin up to now and that will definitely help out against Valdez.
Prediction…
Understandably, Valdez is the favourite here but he sure can’t take Gutierrez too lightly as he’ll be in for a tough night if he does. Valdez is moving up in weight and it might take a little time to get used to it. I can see this as being a tough competitive fight with Valdez just doing enough to pull out a win. Valdez isn’t the most skilled world champion of the dozens in boxing today but he’s got power, a good chin and heart.
Valdez should pull through in a close fight.
Play: Valdez -10000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Andres Gutierrez betting • Oscar Valdez betting