America has always been the holy grail of boxing and Bury’s Scott Quigg finally gets his chance to shine stateside this week.
But going to America is never an easy task for a British boxer and it will not come much tougher than unbeaten Mexican Óscar Valdez.
The 27-year old is defending his WBO featherweight title for the fourth time since he defeated Matías Rueda back in July 2016 and is unlikely to want to lose on what is practically home soil for him these days – the StubHub Center in Carson City, California.
A partisan crowd can be expected and as many fighters travelling to the states have found before, the judges can often be similarly preferential in deciding the outcome.
But for Quigg, what better way to prove himself following his narrow (and only) defeat to Carl Frampton than to win a belt across the pond.
Quigg stepped up to featherweight for the first time after his defeat to Frampton where he beat another Mexican, Jose Cayetano to win the then vacant WBA International featherweight title.
He followed that up with two wins against Romania’s Viorel Simion and Ukraine’s Oleg Yefimovych before deciding to head stateside and join up with legendary trainer, Freddie Roach.
Now 29, and with 38 professional fights under his belt Quigg will certainly not be daunted by the prospect of facing Valdez, but will know that he will have to bring the best performance of his career so far if he is to succeed.
Speaking ahead of the fight, Quigg told boxingscene.com:
“I sparred him last year to prepare for Simion, so if they are anything to go by then expect a war.
“I’ve watched him fight, he is exciting to watch and tries to knock you out. In the past, I was watching his fights for the excitement of watching him, now I watch them to see that he is there to be hit and I can capitalise on that.
“Fighting someone who is well known and established on ESPN is the best possible platform I could ask for,” he added. “If I go in there and win it then I believe I become a star in America. They are building him up, he is making a lot of noise, and rightly so based on his performances, so I can go over there and make a bigger name for myself.”
He may well be abroad but Quigg will have the whole of Manchester cheering him on come fight night.
