Oscar Valdez Out Of Ring Magazine, ESPN’s Divisional Rankings

Oscar Valdez may have retained his WBC junior lightweight title against Robson Conceicao, but he has been knocked off Ring Magazine and ESPN’ division rankings for his pre-fight incident.

The boxing sensation had tested positive for the banned substance phentermine, but was allowed to enter the ring on September 10 anyways. Valdez won the controversial bout via unanimous decision, just getting enough points to outscore the Cuban boxer.

Many experts criticized the promotion for letting Valdez compete despite breaching the rules.

ESPN drops the fighters from its divisional boxing rankings who are guilty of consuming banned substances. Valdez has been temporarily dropped from the 130 lbs list.

Boxers who are inactive in the last 15 months or don’t schedule a fight face the same move.

Ring Magazine dropped the boxer for the same reason.

In his fight against Conceicao, Valdez had a slow start, but gathered momentum in the later rounds. Courtesy of continuous chanting by boxing veteran Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Valdez upped the ante and began giving Conceicao a tough time.

The American boxer had his face bruised due to barrage of jabs that Conceicao brought for him in the opening rounds, but his massive recovery earned him a close win.

One of the judges who had scored the fight 117-113 came out and apologized for not giving enough credit to Conceicao, which has fueled the controversy further.