By Ryan Burton

Earlier this week BoxingScene.com first reported that unbeaten former champion Oscar Valdez will face Andres Gutierrez in his first foray in the super featherweight division. 

Valdez had successfully defended his WBO featherweight title 6 times but making the 126 pound weight division had gotten progressively harder for the former two-time Mexican Olympian. 

The fight will headline a card that will be streamed on ESPN+ and will take place at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. In the same article BoxingScene.com also reported that former two-division champion Carl Frampton would appear in the co-feature fight against an opponent to be announced in the near future.  We have now learned that his opponent will be hard hitting veteran Luis "Orlandito" Del Valle (25-3) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico.  Sources close to the situation said that the deal could be finalized by the end of the week.

Frampton (26-2) will be fighting for the first time since his loss to IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington last December.  He was scheduled to return to the ring on August 10th against Emmanuel Dominguez but suffered a freak injury in the hotel lobby during fight week when a large ornament was accidentally knocked over and fractured his left hand on impact. This will be his first under his new promotional agreement with Top Rank Inc.

Del Valle, who is one of the original members of Team Puerto Rico, which included fighters such as Thomas Dulorme and Jonathan Gonzalez, has won three fights in a row since a two-year hiatus from the ring after his 2016 loss to Diego De La Hoya.  Del Valle is promoted by Universal Promotions.

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