By Rick Reeno

This coming Saturday night, Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (18-0, 16KOs) will face the most experienced opponent of his pro career.

The 25-year-old contender will face former IBF featherweight world champion Evgeny Gradovich (21-1, 9KOs), who is trained by Robert Garcia.

Valdez-Gradovich is part of the HBO Pay-Per-View undercard to the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley trilogy showdown.

Valdez is the number one ranked contender under the WBO. With current WBO world champion Vasyl Lomachenko likely moving to super featherweight in his next bout, Valdez could very well fight for the vacant WBO belt in his next fight.

Valdez's manager, Frank Espinoza, is hoping to get his boxer a world title fight sooner than later.

"Lomachenko is probably moving up and that's going to leave the entire division wide open. Oscar's career has been moved along at a very good pace and the matchmakers at Top Rank have put him in with the right opponents to help him grow as a fighter and now he's going to show everyone why the writers and the people Top Rank consider him to be a future star. I expect him to put in a spectacular performance against a former world champion on a major pay-per-view," Espinoza told krikya360.com.

"I think this is the last fight before we go for a world title. I think he's ready to fight for a world title and Gradovich is the final step before we go in that direction. I would be very confident in matching him against Lee Selby, Gary Russell Jr. or Leo Santa Cruz. Once this fight is over, we'll see where everything stands with the WBO title and then make a team decision on what we plan to do next."