I had originally picked Valdez to win this fight (& I won $50) by UD but something about the fight seemed so off to me. From the starting bell, Berchelt was hesitant to throw any punches at all and looked extremely slow. He looked sluggish, his defense was TERRIBLE and his overall ring IQ looked abysmal. Did anyone else have this same feeling or was it just another case of a boxer being exposed badly and this forum being terribly wrong?
massive weight cut plus balloning 17 lbs overnight made him lethargic and overly vulnerable. he always had poor ring iq, last night just proved he is little more than a plodding inside fighter.
He fought his fight. Came forward, throwing combos, and getting hit in the process. Valdez’s left hooks couldn’t miss. He got done in while trying to turn the tide, and got caught flush with a perfectly timed bomb, while rushing in trying punctuate a round.
Nope, Valdez just fought the perfect fight. He put together punching from awkward angles, keeping the right distance, finding the right punch, moving his head at the right times and taking away Berchelt's rhythm in brilliant fashion. He put it all together seamlessly. When you see a guy that can focus enough to blend perfect head, foot and hand movement in the moment you know you've got a complete fighter right there.
Like I said the other day, I've never really understood what all the fuss was about with Berchelt. Good fighter for sure but he was just another guy who was massive for the weight class and his size, strength, power and physicality were huge assets for him against all those leprechauns and garden gnomes down at 130. Maybe dragging his body down to 130 caught up with him but if that's the case you can't cite it as an excuse when it gave you such an advantage all the other times. But that being said, Valdez is a quality operator and he fought the fight of his life and he deserves a lot of credit for his performance.
Berchelt was never a B level fighter, he is a solid win for Valdez and he has a very bright future ahead but Berchelt would have got his ass handed to him by many guys between 122-135
Brchelt i never rated that highly. Good fighter but beatable. Valdez was just too good and it's that simple.
I don't buy that. I would have given him a decent chance vs anyone from 130-135( nobody below 130 would have beaten him) before Valdez got to him. And still might depending on how good he looks in his comeback fight. Valdez simply put on a great performance.
COVID! Every boxer and athlete that gets Covid is not the same. Maybe he needed a full 3-6 months to recover Internally
