I will almost guarantee you that if you go out to the streets and mention the name Edwin Valero to a hundred people, you will be lucky if 10 of them know who he is. Of course if you ask a hardcore fan who Edwin Valero is, most of them if not all will know who you are talking about.
So some of you might ask who is Edwin Valero?
Whom we are talking about is a left handed fighter (southpaw) who has traveled the world literally in order to apply his craft. Unfortunately, for the fighter in question, the world did not include the United States. In 2003, an abnormality was discovered in his brain which got him a medical suspension in the United States. With a record of 12-0 all by knockouts (in the first round by the way), Valero was forced to take his show on a world tour of sorts. He finally settled in Japan where he went on to record an impressive string of first round knockouts to the tune of 18 in a row..
The first fighter to extend Valero to more than one round was Genaro Trazancos whom for his trouble was quickly dispatched in the second with a vicious body punch. Finally in his first world title shot, he traveled to Panama City, Panama, where he beat and battered Panamanian champion Vicente Mosquera in front of his own crowd for 9 plus rounds until Mosquera's own corner threw in the towel in the tenth round. He went on to defend the title against less than stellar opposition 4 times before moving up to lightweight where on April 4, 2009 he faced Antonio Pitalua for the WBC Lightweight title.
In Pitalua he faced a seasoned veteran with heavy hands and many saw this as a 50-50 fight. Again, Valero proved his doubters wrong by knocking Pitalua out in the second round of that fight. Although Pitalua was down three times in the second round, the fight was virtually over the first time he went down. That first knockdown came from a brutal short right hook that for all intents and purposes took Pitalua's legs and make them into rubber.
Valero defended the title for the first time on December 19, 2009 in Venezuela against another rugged veteran by the name of Hector Velazquez. After 7 rounds, the latter portion which included a severe beating by Valero, Velazquez did not come out for the 8th round.
Amazingly, Valero was back in the ring on February 6th of this year (yes that's less than two months after the Velazquez fight) to defend his title against Antonio DeMarco who was thought of as a really gifted fighter who had the goods to dethrone Valero. Again, Valero did to DeMarco what he had done to just about everyone he has fought up to date. After sustaining a grotesque cut in the forehead and a cut in his right eyelid, Valero went on to administer another beat down and this time the American viewers got to see it because Showtime went to Monterrey, Mexico to broadcast the fight. This time, DeMarco's own corner did not allow him to come out for the tenth round.
Do you see a trend emerging here?
That is in a nutshell Valero's resume so far. However, when you look at Valero fight, you see nothing but raw talent. One can only wonder how good this kid could be if a world class trainer got his hands on him and developed him. However, raw and all, the scary thing is that Valero has been able to amass an impressive record on just said raw power and raw talent. In his last fight, he really quieted a lot of his critics with an impressive display of quickness, boxing and skills never seen before from him. Showtime's own crew of Gus Johnson and Al Bernstein could not deny that what they were looking at was the real deal.
Valero's own dream is to land a fight with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao. He is even willing to keep on moving up in weight in order to fight him. Unfortunately, the risk versus reward numbers do not add up to any legitimate fighter with a household name to get in the ring and face this monster. The same goes for pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao. Why in the world would he get into the ring at this point in time with someone like Valero who would have as good a chance as anyone to take him down and yet lose risking his status to a virtual unknown at the present time.
It now falls in the hands to Top Rank which promotes Valero to build him up (or at least try) and get him in the ring with the most known fighters in the lightweight division and above. Valero has already stated that he is moving up to 140 pounds where the king of the division Timothy Bradley awaits. This would be a intriguing fight capable of watering the mouths of any fight fan. Bradley is as good as they come and he would present a very stiff test for Valero. I personally would like to see Valero take on someone like Juan Diaz first and get his feet wet at that weight. There really isn't much risk in fighting Diaz since he doesn't carry a heavy punch and whose style suits Valero very well. This would get Valero a fight with someone who has already been on television plenty and it would definitely enhance his name if he were able to win convincingly which I think he would.
If Valero does go on to fight Bradley right away, I am almost 100% sure that Showtime would be all over that fight since they have already had Bradley on their shows more than once. As far as Valero goes, I'm pretty sure Showtime loved what they saw from him in his debut on February 6th. He's a banger, he can box, he can take a shot and he comes at you as a man posessed. As dangerous a fight as this is for Valero, the same goes for Bradley. This is truly for the hardcore fan a dream matchup of two young upcoming fighters.
The verdict is obviously still out on Valero, but I perosnally get very excited every time he fights. The look of hunger in his eyes is apparent and win or lose (which he hasn't yet), this kid is coming to hunt down whoever is in front of him and take his head off.
Source: eastsideboxing.com
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