Oscar Valdez delay still fits with new Carl Frampton plan

Carl Frampton [26(15)-2(0)] target Oscar Valdez has confirmed an opponent and date for his sixth WBO featherweight world title defense and it all but confirms ‘The Jackal’ won’t jump straight back in a world title fight.

Valdez-Frampton talk was strong after ‘The Jackal’ confirmed he would fight on post his Josh Warrington defeat, the Mexican made a successful return from a broken jaw suffered in a win over Scott Quigg, and the Belfast boxer linked up with Top Rank.

Frampton was initially adamant he didn’t want any form of warm up return, stating that he would be willing to go through one eliminator at most, and this added fuel to the fire.

The former two-weight world champion wanted to wait until after his court case with Barry McGuigan was finished with and the suggestions were that Frampton would be ready in late summer, with Valdez [25(20)-0] perhaps getting an April date in the interim following his February win over Carmine Tommasone.

Bob Arum and Valdez had both mentioned Frampton in relation to this proposed April date but this was immediately dismissed by the Irishman and, in any case, Valdez’s next outing has been delayed until June 8th.

This, in addition to with Frampton’s court case being put back from May to September, means that a new timeline needs to be set.

Yesterday saw confirmation of a June 8th defense for Valdez against Jason “El Alacrancito” Sanchez [14(7)-0] at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, an extremely soft match-up.

Speaking about the clash Valdez said that “I’m excited to be back in the ring for the sixth defense of my world title. I know there is a big target on my back because I’m the champion, but nobody is going to take this title away from me.”

“This will be my second fight training with Eddy Reynoso. Training with Eddy, I feel the best I’ve ever felt. I felt great in the ring during my first fight with Eddy in my corner. I know that I will look even better this time out. The fans in Reno and watching on ESPN and ESPN Deportes can expect a great showing from me on June 8th.”

Frampton had pledged to fight in late summer despite his looming court case and, while a June 8th and an August outing don’t perfectly align, both he and Valdez going into a big clash with each other in their next bouts would look to be the next move.

Details of Frampton’s return are not currently nailed down.

The Tiger’s Bay man has, however, stated that the fight will be in the United States of America.