He was a monster in the ring and he was a monster outside of it.
That is the personal and professional epitaph for the destructive, lefthanded whirlwind they called "Dinamita" or "El Inca," meaning WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero.
On Sunday morning, in a hotel in Venezuela's third largest city, Valencia, he took a knife and thrust it at least three times into the body of his pretty, 24 year old wife Jennifer Carolina, killing her.
Then Valero went down to the hotel lobby and confessed his crime to hotel security. Cops were called and Valero was whisked to the local jail.
To complete this Shakespearean tragedy, to make it really final in leaving their two little children as literal orphans, Valero then hanged himself in his jail cell, a fact confirmed early Monday by his jailers.
What devils inhabited the tortured mind of this serious slugger who ran off 19 successive first round KOs and whose overall pro record was 27-0 with a perfect batting average of 27 knockouts?
Was he suffering from the brain which was damaged years ago, just before he embarked on his pro ring career, in a bad motorcycle accident. That damage showed up on a brain scan when he was fighting for Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy and they were trying to display his talent on HBO in a bout from a former bank in midtown Manhattan?
Edwin Valero and his wife, both now dead; Jennifer Carolina murdered by her husband, he killed himself in Venezuelan jail cell (El Nuevao Dia, Venezuela Photo)
As a result of that brain scan, the New York State Athletic Commission properly banned Valero from that fight.
If it wasn't roid rage, for which he seemed to show all the symptoms, was it his wild alcohol and/or drug binges?
The incidents of violent behavior just kept piling up and yet people around him, including family members, kept making excuses for Valero, rationalizing the 28 year old's behavior.
It was only two weeks ago that promoter Bob Arum, completely frustrated with Valero's antisocial behavior even as Arum spent money trying to get his visa cleaned up so the boxer could come to the United States, told me that Valero was acting "in a bizarre" manner.
Arum said he had trouble getting accurate information from anybody close to the boxer.
The stories out of Venezuela kept getting nuttier and nuttier.
It was said Valero assaulted his own wife and sister, something he adamantly denied and blamed on a jealous neighbor.
No charges were filed.
He beat up his lovely wife and she wound up in a hospital with a collapsed lung and multiple bruises.
That, too, was excused and, as I wrote only sarcastically, I suppose the wife slipped on the proverbial roller skate and banana peel on the stairs at their home.
Valero was said to be going to anger management, Then it was said a judge had ordered him to go booze rehab, to dry himself out and get clean and sober.
One news report said Valero would spend six months in rehab, just to be sure his pattern of behavior would change.
Some whackadoodle lawyer representing him contradicted that, telling news media Valero only need to dry out for a weekend.
Then came a report that he would go to Cuba to train for a fight although he had none scheduled as Arum and the the Los Angeles immigration lawyer he retained, Frank Ronzio, tried to find a way around the border ban which was based on a DWI case from Las Vegas.
Ironically, that DWI arrest occurred in Vegas the very night, last May 2, that Valero;s ultimate target, Manny Pacquiao, was hammering Ricky Hatton into submission.
Then there was an auto accident involving Valero and confusion surrounded those circumstances as well.
Now, it was said, the Cuba trip was off and Valero would stay in his homeland.
Stay he did and he had his wife went to Valencia.
Maybe someone can explain to me why the often enraged Valero was allowed anywhere near his wife after beating her up so badly that a lung was collapsed.
Don't they have such a thing as stay away orders, orders of protection, to combat domestic violence in Venezuela? I don't know but I will ask the questions.
Who was supposed to give Valero guidance, who would help him battle his demons?
Now she is dead and he is dead.
Pray for those two children, I guess.
One thing is for sure, and that is even though he is gone, knocked himself out of life, the damage perpetrated by Edwin Valero will continue.
His final record? You could say 29-0, all by KO, and the worst damage was inflicted at the end.
They may be too young to comprehend it now, those precious children, but someday they will have to contend with psychic demons themselves.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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