By Mitch Abramson, New York Daily News
Edwin Valero, the talented yet troubled former WBC lightweight champion, confessed to killing his wife on Sunday and was taken into police custody, according to judicial authorities in Caracas, Venezuela.
Valero, who was on a possible collision course with superstar Manny Pacquiao, was arrested after police found the corpse of his wife at the InterContinental hotel in the city of Valencia, according to Venezuelan Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores.
According to reports, Valero (27-0, 27 knockouts) left the hotel around daybreak and allegedly told security staff there he murdered Jennifer Carolina Viera de Valero, whose age has been been reported as 20 and 24 in differing dispatches.
Police later discovered three stab wounds on her body. Valero was taken to a police precinct "where we are headed to take samples needed for the investigation of the case," Flores reportedly told a state television station.
"Valero went down to a hotel reception and confessed to the employees that he had carried out the murder," the attorney-general's office said in a statement.
This is not the first time that Valero, a superstar in his native Venezuela, has had brushes with the law in matters concerning his wife. In March, he was charged with harassing his wife and threatening hospital officials who were caring for her. His wife was being treated for cracked ribs and a punctured lung, ailments that Valero's lawyer explained as being the result of her falling down a flight of steps at their home.
Valero has battled substance abuse problems and on March 28, he entered a rehab clinic in Venezuela to treat apparent dependencies on alcohol and drugs and to deal with anger issues.
Valero rose to prominence by setting a record for consecutive first-round knockouts (18) to start his career in 2006, a record that has since been broken by the Philly fighter Tyrone Brunson. Valero won the WBA super featherweight title with a tenth-round TKO against Vicente Mosquera on August 5, 2006, and he defended it four times. He vacated the belt in 2008 to move up to a higher weight class and quickly won the WBC lightweight title but again vacated it in an attempt to move up in weight yet again. His ultimate goal was to challenge Pacquiao.
In 2001, Valero fractured his skull in a motorcycle accident and his medical status made it difficult for him to fight in the U.S. Still, his health issues were clearing up and Valero was tentatively scheduled to fight again over the summer, perhaps on a premium cable network, according to Carl Moretti, VP of Top Rank, which promotes Valero.
"His career inside the ring was on its way up," said Moretti, who was in Atlantic City on Saturday as another Top Rank star Kelly Pavlik lost to Sergio Martinez. "Maybe he was headed to a potential fight with Manny Pacquiao. But more importantly, issues outside the ring we're bringing him down. When you have someone who's dealing with demons, it keeps going until something like this eventually happens."
Source: nydailynews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment