Only seen a fight or two from Valdez, and I'm curious about him. His KO record seems to be misleading, considering he was the sole person to ever stop Bad Benny, and he put Monzon his his ass. 29 on Ring's Top 100 Punchers, right above Trinidad and Cuevas. Eh?
I too would like to see more on Valdez...I just remember the Monzon, Briscoe & Curro (2 x) fights. Monzon & him were at their best about the same time I guess.
It brings a smile to think of Valdez -- used to watch him train daily at the now defunct Gramercy Gym on 14th St. in New York. What a fluid punching machine. Lightening combinations, all hard, not shoeshines. Always big grin for everyone -- lovely guy.
Valdez was funny. He hated leaving Columbia and fighting anywhere but there. He was probably not at his best outside of home base as good as he was. He did very well against Monzon and it is no wonder that Monzon was done after him... he saw his mortality in Rodrigo. Valdez is the best to come out of Columbia in my opinion at least.
His KO record is not that great. The guys who did the ranking must have given a lot of credit for his work against Monzon and Briscoe. I would be interested in knowingg the criteria used to compile the list.
What do you mean by his KO record being "misleading"? I guess you're kind of spoiled by fighters with ridiculously built-up knockout averages, but Valdez's knockout record given the circumstances of his career and the opposition he faced is plenty impressive.
So I suppose Marciano's high knockout percentage spoiled me, and it's garbage because of how high it is? Oh, I forget... You'd use an actual concrete, high end KO record like that FOR one of your arguments in another thread!
I saw the fight and it was a flash knockdown from a short overhand right, but Monzon was definitely hurt by the punch. He was able to sharp shoot from a distance the rest of the fight and smother Valdez when he got close.