Southland boxer Oscar Valdez has what may be Southern California’s worst commute.

Each weekday, the 24-year-old featherweight wakes up at 5:15 a.m. for a drive from his home in Lake Elsinore to his training facility in Carson.

“I can’t leave past 6:30 a.m. or I start hitting more traffic, and I have to be there at 9 a.m.,” Valdez said. “So I get two large coffees, listen to [Los Angeles radio personality] ‘Don Cheto’ [on KBUE-FM (105.5)] and take off. Just me.”

Good thing Valdez has a Prius. “Because gas is killing me,” he says.


The routine hasn’t compromised the two-time Olympic boxer from Mexico, who on Saturday night returns to where he was raised in southern Arizona to fight Ernie Sanchez in the main event of a UniMas-televised “Solo Boxeo Tecate” card (11 p.m. Pacific time, tape-delayed) at the Tucson Convention Center.

Valdez (17-0, 15 knockouts) grew up in Nogales, Ariz., a 40-minute drive south of Tucson.

He knows driving.

Valdez said the commute to Carson usually requires two and a half hours. Good thing the radio character “Don Cheto” is entertaining. His East L.A.-influenced version of “Gangham Style,” called “Gang-a Style,” was a Web smash, drawing more than 44 million YouTube views.


Valdez’s ride home along the 91 Freeway to the 15 can be accomplished in one hour, he said, “as long as I leave training by 1:30 p.m.”

“I got the routine down now,” Valdez said. “Been doing it nearly two years. All I do is train, so it’s not a big deal for me. I’m used to it. I get home at 3 and sleep, and then I run by my house at night. I’m dedicated, 100 percent.”

That has shown in his steady success as a pro, including his Sept. 11 fifth-round technical knockout of Chris Avalos in Las Vegas.

Sanchez (15-6-1) isn’t expected to put up great resistance Saturday. Valdez’s promoter, Top Rank Inc., is aiming him for a 2016 title shot, and company employees have mentioned Nonito Donaire as a possible future opponent.


Valdez said his performances in the ring haven’t gone to his head.

“I haven’t accomplished nothing yet,” he said. “It’s not in me to be satisfied or carried away and I have that person around me to pull my ears, my father. That keeps my hunger.”

Twitter: @latimespugmire