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Oscar Valdez returns in February against Carmine Tommasone

WBO featherweight beltholder Oscar Valdez. Photo / Mikey Williams-Top Rank
Fighters Network
20
Dec

The undercard for the Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev rematch on February 2 was officially announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Oscar Valdez will return to the ring for the first time in almost a year when he defends his WBO featherweight title against Carmine Tommasone at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

The fight, along with the vacant IBF lightweight title bout between Richard Commey and Isa Chaniev, will air live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

The fight card will take place the night before Super Bowl 53, which will be hosted at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington.



 

The Alvarez-Kovalev rematch, along with lightweight prospect Teofimo Lopez, will air on ESPN+ (midnight ET/ 9 p.m. PT).

“It’s Super Saturday and by syncing the ESPN linear and ESPN+ platforms for one night, fans have an incredible opportunity to watch a stacked show with many of the world’s best fighters and rising superstars,” said Top Rank President Todd duBoef in a release.

Valdez (24-0, 19 knockouts), who resides in the border city of Nogales, Mexico, has not fought since March 10 against Scott Quigg at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Valdez’s jaw was fractured by an overweight Quigg in round five but he managed to outbox Quigg in a thrilling fight en route to a unanimous decision victory.

After the fight, Valdez decided to leave trainer Manny Robles and began working with Eddy Reynoso, who is known for being the longtime co-trainer of The Ring Magazine/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. Valdez is also managed by Frank Espinoza.

WBO featherweight beltholder Oscar Valdez (left) vs. Scott Quigg. Photo credit: German Villasenor

WBO featherweight beltholder Oscar Valdez (left) vs. Scott Quigg. Photo credit: German Villasenor

Tommasone (19-0, 5 KOs) will be fighting for the first time outside Italy. His most notable bout was a fourth round stoppage win over Jesus Antonio Rios in October of 2016.

Tommasone is ranked No. 14 by the WBO at featherweight.

Both Commey and Chaniev will fight for the vacant IBF title that was recently vacated by WBC beltholder Mikey Garcia.

Commey (27-2, 24 KOs) stopped veteran Yardley Armenta in round two in a stay-busy fight on August 4. Commey, who is from Accra, Ghana, became the mandatory challenger on March 10 by stopping Alejandro Luna in the sixth round.

The 31-year-old Commey, who is promoted by Lou DiBella, has won his last three fights.

Chaniev (13-1, 6 KOs) has also won his last three fights. In his most recent bout on May 12, Chaniev, who resides in Nazran, Russia, overcame a third round knockdown to win a 12-round unanimous decision over hard-hitting Ismael Barroso.

Chaniev is ranked No. 3 by the IBF.

No opponent has yet been announced for Lopez, who is coming off a highlight-reel one-punch knockout of Mason Menard on December 8 in New York City.

 

 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.

 

 

 

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