Oscar Valdez living his dream, set to defend title Saturday vs. Hiroshige Osawa

LAS VEGAS - WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez is fond of the saying, "If the team works, the dream works."

So far, the Valdez team is humming along like clockwork. Manny Robles, who took over a few years ago as head trainer after Clemente Medina suffered a foot injury, and Valdez's highly respected manager, Frank Espinoza, as well as his promoter, Top Rank, have taken the former two-time Mexican Olympian to the top of his division.

And the dream? Well, Valdez (20-0, 18 KOs) is living it.

He will defend his title Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center on boxing's biggest stage, taking on Japanese challenger Hiroshige Osawa (30-3-4, 19 KOs) in one of the four title bouts on the Top Rank pay-per-view card (9 p.m. ET), led by Manny Pacquiao's return from a short retirement to face WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas.

This will be the former two-time Mexican Olympian's third bout in seven months, and staying active is the way Valdez likes it.

"I've always said I love my job," Valdez, 25, said before the final undercard press conference Thursday at The Wynn Hotel and Casino. "There's not a lot of people out there who can say they love what they do, love their job. I love the sport, I love being in the gym, and I especially love fighting."

Valdez's previous fights this year have been been at the MGM, on cards headlined by Pacquiao's retirement bout victory against Timothy Bradley in April and Terence Crawford's dismantling of Viktor Postol in July.

Valdez stopped former featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich in April, then won the vacant WBO belt in July with an impressive second-round stoppage of undefeated Argentine Carlos Rueda.

Being the champion has changed Valdez' life in a lot of ways, but probably the biggest is that it puts a bulls-eye on his back for hungry up-and-comers. "Now I have to work a lot harder because I'm a target for a lot of fighters, and have to work harder in the gym," Valdez said.

If he gets past Osawa, as expected, Valdez would like nothing better than to headline his own card. The Nogales, Mexico-born fighter, who spent much of his formative school years in Tucson, Ariz., would love to defend his title in Tucson. He was scheduled to do it there before the Pacquiao-Vargas fight got hastily put together when Pacquiao, now a senator in the Philippines, had a recess in the Senate, and Valdez was added to this PPV card.

"I would love a fight in Tucson, it's pretty much my second hometown, and I know a lot of people would come out there and support me if I was to fight in Tucson," Valdez said. "And it's only 40 minutes away from Nogales. But right now I'm really concentrating on this."

"This" is his fight against Osawa, 31, who has won his last eight by knockout. But he is fighting in the U.S. for the first time and has not been nearly as active as Valdez, having fought just once since last December. Valdez said his extensive amateur background has helped him deal with the various styles of international fighters and Osawa is no exception.

"I've seen him fight before. He's a good fighter," Valdez said of Osawa. "I treat him with nothing but the respect he deserves. He's ranked No. 1 by the WBO, and it wasn't easy for him to get to that position so you have to treat all these fighters with respect. I take no fighter lightly.

"I know he's taller than me, an aggressive fighter, and me and my trainer (Robles) did a great job at the gym sparring people that are taller than me that are going to come up and pressure me, and that's what's giving me the confidence."

Valdez insists he just loves to be handling his business on the big stage.

"Oh yeah, ever since I was a kid, I dreamed about these moments," he said. "To be honest with you, I'm enjoying the ride. I dream of having media around me, I dream of having fans, a pay-per-view card, being the main event, and little by little I'm getting there. Hopefully one day I can have my own pay-per-view event, but right now I'm enjoying the journey, taking it day by day, step by step and fight by fight."

His promoter, Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank, said Valdez' dream of defending his title in Tucson could become a reality in his next fight early in 2017, provided he takes care of business against Osawa.

"It's a big possibility because we did a fight for him there in December 2015. I met the mayor, a guy named (Jonathan) Rothschild, and the city is behind him," Arum said Thursday. "They want a title defense in Tucson, and they have a beautiful building in the convention area, and we would definitely like to do a fight there sometime in the first quarter next year, maybe a title fight."

(Photo of Oscar Valdez celebrating after defeating Evgeny Gradovich in April, by Isaac Brekken, AP)