Liam Wilson has suffered further heartbreak in Arizona, the Australian boxer losing his super-featherweight world-title fight against Mexican Oscar Valdez.
In front of a parochial full house at Desert Diamond Arena, the referee stopped the fight with 12 seconds left in the seventh round.
It had been a war of attrition, with both fighters taking plenty of punishment. While an aggressive Wilson was at high volume, more of the Mexican’s big punches landed.
Former world champion Valdez unleashed in the seventh, raining blows on the Queenslander to end the fight by technical knockout.
Speaking after the match, Wilson agreed with former champion Tim Bradley Jr that he ‘didn’t fight with his heart – he fought with his brain’.
“[I have to] start using my brain,” he said.
“Tim Bradley is right. My coaches are right. My managers are right. My corner men are right. Sometimes my heart gets the better of me. F–k. I’m sorry.”
Wilson is part of a three-pronged Australian world-title assault this weekend in the US, with Tim Tszyu and Michael Zerafa hunting glory in Las Vegas on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
The 28-year-old was making his return to the venue where he suffered a shattering world-title loss to another Mexican, Emanuel Navarrete, in 2023.
Last year, Wilson stunned the three-division superstar in the fourth round, but the home-town favourite used his experience to turn a 10-second count into a 27-second recovery, before going on to stop the Australian in the ninth round.
The Valdez defeat was another missed opportunity for Wilson, following the announcement this week the WBO had elevated the fight to world-title status – with the winner declared the interim world champion.
The incumbent Navarrete has elected to move up and fight Denys Berinchyk in May for the vacant WBO lightweight world title.
If Navarrete wins and decides to stay at lightweight, Valdez will be promoted to full champion.
As a 15-year-old, Wilson made a vow to his dying father Peter that he would win a world title in his honour.
Left in tears after last February’s drama-charged outcome, the Valdez result is a further blow.
It was a sweet victory for 33-year-old Valdez, who suffered a points loss to Navarrete in Arizona last August.
© AAP
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