Boxing Challenge: Valdez slips by Conceicao

    Oscar Valdez had a difficult time leading up to his fight with amateur rival Robson Conceicao dealing with a failed test for PED but he nearly had a more difficult time inside the ring with the former Olympic gold medalist before controlling the second half of the match to win a unanimous decision and retain his WBC junior lightweight title.

Conceicao built an early lead on the scorecards but gradually reduced his punch output as Valdez began to step the pace to close the gap in the fight.

Conceicao may only have himself to blame after the final few rounds were spent in mobile mode and a dubious point deduction by referee Tony Zaino for a rabbit punch that was clearly more of a tap in the middle of a Valdez clutch took away any chance of a victory.

The point didn't matter on the official cards with Valdez winning 115-112 on two cards (7-5 and the point lost) and a ridiculous 117-110 ( 9-3 and the point deduction) but it did on mine as Valdez won 114-113 on my scorecard.

Many are wondering about the failed test and the regression from Valdez's best career win in his last fight against Miguel Berchelt.

I don't think either is the case completely, although the hysteria over the failed test surely didn't help Valdez any, as the problem seemed to be a talented foe that is familiar with Valdez had a style that wasn't quite as easy to look impressive against as the straight forward Berchelt.

All things considered, this wasn't an overly impressive outing for Oscar Valdez but he escaped with the title on an evening that it could have been easy to lose.

The co-feature saw a stunner as heavily hyped lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores was dominated in losing a unanimous decision to Luis Alberto Lopez.

Not only was Flores beaten by Lopez, he took a beating and I wouldn't have uttered a peep in complaint had the fight been stopped at any time in the final three rounds with Flores's father attempting to stop the fight with seconds remaining but was unable to get the attention of the referee to end things early.

Flores took a beating that some prospects never recover from and it will be interesting to see how it affects Flores in the future.

At the bare minimum, Flores is going to have to be carefully matched over the next year in order to rebuild his confidence. and the awkward Lopez will likely receive some extra opportunities after a surprising performance.

The opener saw an action-packed three-round plus before Junto Nakatani kept his WBO flyweight title when the doctor stopped the fight due to a broken and badly bleeding nose from challenge Angel Acosta.

Nakatani appeared to have broken Acosta's nose in the first round and despite the best efforts of Acosta to battle through the pain, Nakatani controlled the fight.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 3-2 and moved my lead to 125-110.