Oscar Valdez Unscripted: Training Camp in the Mexican Mountains

As fight week approaches, it all comes down to this. I feel ready. Hell, I’ve been ready for a long time. It all started with the incredible seven-week training camp I had in Guadalajara, Mexico, with my trainer, Manny Robles, Frank Espinoza (my manager), and the rest of the Team Espinoza fighters.

A lot of fighters say they had a perfect training champ, but I really mean it.  My weight is not an issue as I prepare for the toughest test of my career, Saturday at the StubHub Center against Scott Quigg (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10:30 EST). I worked too hard to earn this WBO Featherweight title, and as I approach my fourth title defense, I’m only getting better.

In Guadalajara, my team and I lived in the gym. I didn’t have to stay here in California where I have an hour, hour and a half drive to the gym. Those extra hours not in the car were spent in the gym. I woke up every morning and went to work with the whole Espinoza team. When you train alongside excellent fighters like Jessie Magdaleno, Antonio Orozco and Emilio Sanchez, you learn how to be a better fighter.

When we weren’t eating, sleeping, or in the gym, we were hitting the roads, running up and down mountains to build our cardio. My favorite run was at Bosque de la Primavera, a huge national park located near Guadalajara. The most I did there was 11 miles in 74 minutes. When I came back to California, closer to sea level, I saw the results. When I train, I don’t get tired at all. I feel rejuvenated and ready to go to war with Quigg.

Aside from the training in the gym and on the mountain roads, I felt a big difference in the food I was putting into my body. It was a lot of fresh, organic produce and lean meat directly from the local market. When I had training camps in the U.S., we’d get the food, drive an hour back to the house, and put it in the microwave. It’s not the same.

There are so many elements to a great training camp, and this time, everything clicked. March 10 can’t come soon enough. – Oscar Valdez

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Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Matchroom Boxing, remaining tickets for Valdez vs. Quigg, priced at $206, $104, $53 and $27.50, including facility fees, can be purchased online at AXS.com, by phone at (888) 9AXS-TIX, or by visiting the StubHub Center box office.