[citation needed] In Beijing however, he ran right into eventual gold medal winner Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan of Mongolia and lost his first bout 4–15.

The tournament was held in Guadalajara in his home country, and he showed off the experience he had gained by beating his opponents from Barbados, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia.

In his second fight of the games, he won to Tajikistan's Anvar Yunusov by a margin of 13–7 then lost 13–19 to Ireland's John Joe Nevin.

[6] In December, Valdez knocked out Corben Page in round 2 at the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[14][15] Valdez successfully defended the title in May at the Forum in Inglewood, California retiring Noel Echevarria (11–2, 6 KOs) after round 6.

[18] Valdez made a defence of the NABF Junior super featherweight title in the Alamadome in November against Mexican boxer Alberto Garza 26–8–1, 21 KOs).

[26][27] On 23 July 2016, the undercard of Crawford-Postol at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Valdez fought undefeated Argentine boxer Matias Rueda (26–0, 23 KOs).

[30][31] Valdez made his first title defense against 31 year old Japanese boxer Hiroshige Osawa (30–3–4, 19 KOs) on the undercard of Pacquiao-Vargas PPV bout on 5 November 2016.

Valdez hit accurate jabs and hard shots to the body and head from the opening bell and managed to knock down Osawa in round 4.

Bob Arum confirmed the undercard card would also include Gilberto Ramírez and Jessie Magdaleno defending their respective WBO titles and Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson making his professional debut.

[34][35] In front of 5,419 fans, Valdez retained his WBO title in a slugfest, but was taken the 12 round distance for the first time in his professional career.

[36][37] In July 2017, Top Rank set a return date of 22 September 2017 for Valdez to make a third defence of his WBO title.

[38] On 9 August, it was revealed that Valdez would fight unbeaten Filipino boxer Genesis Servania (29-0,12 KOs) in a voluntary defence at the Tucson Convention Center, with Gilberto Ramírez once again co-featuring.

[39] Valdez stated that he would like to unify the division and fight the winner of Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares, which was likely to take place in the fall of 2017.

[44] On 28 November 2017, according to RingTV, Valdez was to make his next defence on 10 March 2018 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, headlining a Top Rank card on ESPN.

[45] On 3 January 2018, ESPN first reported that a deal was close to being reached for Valdez to defend his WBO featherweight title against British boxer Scott Quigg (34-1-2, 25 KOs).

[54] Valdez visited oral surgeon Dr. Douglas Galen in Beverly Hills the following Monday and had his jaw wired shut.

[59] Later that month, a fight against 33 year old Spanish boxer Andoni Gago (20-3-3, 6 KOs) was finalized and would take place in Tucson, Arizona.

[61] A day later it was announced that Valdez would next fight at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas on 2 February 2019, with Italian boxer Carmine Tommasone (19-0, 5 KOs) as his opponent.

[64] On 25 September 2020, it was revealed that Miguel Berchelt (38-1, 34 KOs) would make his seventh title defense against Valdez on 12 December in Las Vegas.

During that time, 23 year old Shakur Stevenson (14-0, 8 KOs) said he would step in for Berchelt, but doubted Valdez and his team would accept the fight.

[73] On 6 January 2021, the bout was rescheduled for 20 February headlining a ESPN card, to took place at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Paradise, Nevada.

[77] On fight week, Berchelt arrived in Las Vegas, but without his trainer Alfredo Caballero due to a visa discrepancy.

There was some significance on the day of the weigh in, as it was 21 years to the date from Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales first meeting of their epic rivalry, which was also an all-Mexican fight.

[90] Valdez made his first defense of his WBC super featherweight title against the 2016 Olympic Gold medalist Robson Conceição on 10 September 2021, at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona, United States.

The fight with Conceição would still happen however, as the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Athletic Commission went by WADA guidelines, which only prohibit stimulants in-competition.

[96][97] On 16 January 2022, rumors surfaced that Valdez would face the WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in a title unification bout on 30 April 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

[98] Promoter Bob Arum revealed three days later that Valdez and Stevenson had come to terms to meet in a super-featherweight world title unification fight.

[105] Prior to the bout taking place, Valdez beat Adam Lopez by unanimous decision in a stay-busy fight on 20 May.

[106] On 29 March 2024 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Valdez defeated Liam Wilson via seventh-round TKO and earned the interim WBO junior lightweight title.