Valdez Knocks Out Tommasone, Retains WBO Featherweight Title

Valdez Knocks Out Tommasone, Retains Featherweight Title

After nearly 11 months out of the ring recovering from a broken jaw, WBO featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez did not miss a beat. Valdez made the fifth defense of his title, notching a seventh-round TKO over the previously unbeaten Carmine Tommasone.

Valdez (25-0, 20 KOs) scored a pair of knockdowns in the fourth, the first one coming courtesy of a counter right hand and the second one via a left hook to the belt line.

Valdez knocked down Tommasone again in the sixth, which spelled the beginning of the end for the game Italian. Early in the seventh, an uppercut floored Tommasone, and the referee immediately stopped the fight.

“I was very excited. I kind of didn’t want to get too crazy in there. It was tough the first round to get {my rhythm},” Valdez said. “But finally, I got the job done. I congratulate him. He’s a great fighter. I wish him nothing but the best.

“We started 2019 well. The sky’s the limit.”