By Norm Frauenheim –
PHOENIX — Not much separated Oscar Valdez and Liam Wilson on the scale.
Not much figures to separate them in the ring either Friday at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale in an intriguing junior-light fight (8 p.m./PT), a potential stepping stone to a world title.
Both came in under the 130-pound mandatory Thursday, Valdez (31-2, 23 KOs) at 129.7 and Wilson (13-2, 7 KOs) at 129.6.
“I saw somebody who’s ready for war,’’ Wilson said after the ritual face-to-face stare down in a ballroom and lobby crowded with fans from Valdez’ Mexican hometown in Nogales, south of Tucson.
The weigh-in, at a hotel in downtown Phoenix, also included Seniesa Estrada and Yokasta Valle, who will fight for an undisputed women’s minimum-weight title on the ESPN televised card.
Both came in under the 105-pound mandatory, Estrada (25-0, 9 KOs) at 104.2 and Valle (30-2, 9 KOs) at 104.3.
There were only unblinking stares and no words between Estrada and Valle as they posed for the cameras the day before a women’s fight that has generated plenty of trash talk and lots of attention, including media from Costa Rica, Valle’s home country.
