Oscar Valdez Injured; Return Postponed From November 12 Until Date TBD In January

Oscar Valdez’s return from his first professional loss has been delayed.

BoxingScene.com has learned that Valdez suffered an undisclosed injury, unrelated to boxing, that has prevented him from training recently. That injury has forced him to postpone his comeback fight to an unspecified date in January.

Valdez’s promoters at Top Rank Inc. had planned for him to headline a card on Nov. 12 at a location to be determined in Las Vegas. Valdez’s opponent, 31, had not been picked for a card that ESPN+ will continue to air that night.

Seniesa Estrada (22-0, 9 KOs), the WBA women’s minimum weight champion, will make her Top Rank debut in the 10-round co-feature on November 12. Her opponent has not been announced.

Mexican Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) has not fought since losing a 12-round unanimous decision to undefeated Shakur Stevenson in their 130-pound title unification fight on April 30 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Stevenson, of Newark, New Jersey, retained his WBO junior lightweight title and took the WBC super featherweight crown from Valdez.

The southpaw Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) became the first fighter to defeat Valdez since the Nogales native was eliminated at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

His lopsided loss to Stevenson extended a tumultuous time in Valdez’s career. The former WBO featherweight champion beat Robson Conceicao by unanimous decision in their previous fight, but Valdez tested positive for phentermine, a substance banned by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, a month before he fought Brazilian Conceicao (17- 1, 8). KOs) on September 10 in Tucson, Arizona.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe Athletic Commission still cleared Valdez to defend his WBO junior lightweight title against Conceicao because the World Anti-Doping Agency, unlike VADA, allows the use of phentermine both in and out of competition. However, Valdez’s situation caused controversy, particularly among contemporaries who questioned whether he knowingly used a banned substance while training.

Meanwhile, Conceicao will challenge Stevenson for his WBC and WBO belts in a main event that ESPN will televise Friday night from the Prudential Center in Newark (10 pm ET).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.