By Brent Matteo Alderson

After Manny’s dominate victory over Oscar De La Hoya, the boxing fraternity began anticipating Pacquiao’s permanent entrance into the welterweight ranks, but in all likelihood, the Filipino juggernaut will probably continue to fight at or below the junior-welterweight limit after his May superfight with Ricky Hatton - unless a mega fight with Pretty Boy Floyd comes to fruition.  That being said the future hall of famer’s list of possible super-fight opponents is limited. 

He could engage in another barn-burner with Juan Manuel Marquez - if the 36-year-old Mexican can win a few more fights. Or Manny could possibly hook up with a young up and coming fighter like Timothy Bradley who seems intent on establishing himself as one of the world’s best fighters.  A fight with Nate Campbell would also be interesting. Campbell's trainer John David Jackson recently stated, “Let’s see a real action packed fight between the two.” And the winner of Golden Boy Promotion’s unofficial lightweight tournament could also be a possibility. 

Bob Arum may have other plans.  He recently outbid Golden Boy Promotions to sign knockout artist Edwin Valero and noted, “Edwin Valero is one of the most exciting fighters in the world today. We are very pleased he has signed with Top Rank. We are planning in the months ahead to showcase him so the public can see how talented he is."

And Valero’s team is excited about fighting for Top Rank and readily admits that a potential fight with the Filipino legend is one of the reasons they signed with the Las Vegas based company.

“We felt that once his name gets built better here in the states, it will be easy for them to move forward if they come to that decision since they would have the same promoter,” noted Valero’s manager Jose Castillo.  

 

Nigel Collins, the editor and chief of Ring Magazine believes that at this point, a fight between Valero and Pacquiao is premature.

“Pacquiao-Valero might make a great fight, but I think it’s unrealistic. It wouldn’t mean much at box office. Manny needs to fight big names to make the kind of money he wants to make and what would be the point of taking a step back to fight someone who is really only known to the hardcore fans. It would take a series of win in exciting fights on American television to really make him an attractive opponent.” 

That’s where the problem lays.  Although he is fighting for his second world title, on April 4 against hard punching veteran Antonio Pitalua, the Inca hasn’t fought on American television because of irregularities that appeared in an MRI in 2004. The MRI has prevented him from fighting on American soil even though the head injuries are not boxing related and stem from a motorcycle accident he was involved in as a teenager. 

None the less, professional fighters sustain a certain degree of head trauma during a boxing match and as a result commissions are apprehensive about licensing a fighter that has already sustained any type of brain injury. Even though the evidence is inclusive about how certain types of brain injuries can increase the risks, commissions prefer to error on the side on caution.  Nigel Collins commented, “I really think Valero needs to be cautious and take the proper medical tests to make sure that his chances of injury aren’t increased because of his prior injury.”

Normally the boxing fraternity would support the exclusion of a fighter from the sport because of brain injuries, but the Valero’s case is different.  The accident was non boxing related and Valero hasn’t exhibited any signs during years of training or 24 prize fights that suggest that he is more susceptible to injury because of his involvement in boxing.

According to his manager, Jose Castillo, the medical issues with the most prominent commissions are being resolved and the fighter is finally going to be able to display his wares on American soil and American television.  In fact his lightweight title fight in April will be part of a domestically distributed Golden Boy Promotions pay-per-view card that takes place in Texas, which will really impact Valero’s market appeal and drastically increase the chances of a future fight with Pacquiao. 

Valero has been kind of an urban legend in the boxing world and has been talked about by the hardcore fans for quite some time.  In 2004, beat-writer Doug Fischer stated that the Venezuela slugger beat up on a "still in his prime" Erik Morales during a sparring session and claimed he would pick Valero to beat most of the top fighters in the world near his weight class.

Valero further intensified these musings with an incredible string of knockouts which included 18 consecutive in the first round.  In fact he was laying out opponents with such ease and frequency that promoters began to offer bonuses to opponents if they could get past the first round.

Valero’s incredible knockout performances earned him a chance to fight Vicente Mosquera for a WBA title, an organization also based out of Venezuela. Back then Mosquera was Ring Magazine’s number four ranked junior lightweight, and Valero tookd the fight in the champion’s backyard of Panama. The barn-burner of a fight was more taxing than Valero’s proponents had anticipated. 

Still a victory over one of the best 130-pounders in the world in hostile territory is impressive especially when you consider that in twenty-four previous fights - Valero had only accumulated 25 rounds of actual ring experience.  Valero also feels that it was a learning experience and that the best is yet to come.

“The fight with Mosquera was a classic, but I’m going to tell you something. I’ll never have another fight like that the rest of my life.  Before that fight I had scored 18 first round knockout and [the one] second round knockout, so even though I had a lot of experience in the gym sparring and training, I didn’t actually have a lot of in the ring experience. I gained so much experience from that fight and now I’m a better fighter for it,” Valero told BoxingScene.com 

And Valero feels like he has the ability to derail Manny Pacquiao’s Sherman type march through the different weight classes.

“Sincerely I would like to fight him and I hope he doesn’t retire anytime soon and gives me the opportunity to show that I have what it takes to be a great fighter.  A lot of people doubt my talent and say I haven’t fought anybody or I don’t have enough experience, but that because I knock everybody out so quickly," Valero said. 

"The people of the Philippines want to see the fight.  I was in the Philippines for Manny’s birthday in December and all the fans asked when I was going to fight him.  Now that we are with the same company I hope it happens one day because it would be a great fight, a fight between two aggressors, between two offensive forces, but really the battle would come down to our right hands, and not our left hands.”     

A dream fight with Manny Pacquiao does seem a bit farfetched, but people have to understand that Valero is special, real special. 

Remember last fall when Sergio Martinez burst upon the scene when he fought on HBO for the first time.  The Argentine had previously fought in more than forty professional contests, but wasn’t elevated to that special place among the world’s better fighters until he fought on HBO.  The same thing is going to happen to Valero. 

This kid is going to take the boxing world by storm and it won’t take him three years to build a following among American fans, more like four fights against world class competition.   

His arrival to prominence will be similar to Roy Jones re-entrance into the public’s eye when he dazzled the boxing world in his wins again Percy Harris and Jorge Vaca in 1992.  Valero is that good and with his surreal punching power and youthful exuberance he might just knock Manny Pacquiao out.

Still it’s way too early to make a prediction on fight that just now is only starting to brew.  When asked about Valero, professional trainer Henry Ramirez commented, “I haven’t seen him enough to make an evaluation,” and Nigel Collins commented, “He’s obviously a dangerous opponent, but I would have to see him against a couple of name opponents.  A lot of times prolific punchers create a lot of excitement and look great against second raters, but at this time we really haven’t had anything to gauge if he’s good enough to challenge a fighter of Manny Pacquiao’s caliber. He has to fight someone who is really well known.”        

Notes:

Favorite Quote: - Ray Arcel, one of the sport’s legendary trainers, once commented, “You’re only as good as the fighters you work with. I don’t care how much you know, if your fighter can’t fight, you’re another bum in the park.”  And that’s from a guy that at one time or another trained Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, Ezzard Charles, and Roberto Duran.

Kelly Pavlik looked good against Rubio and could erase the lingering stench of the loss to Hopkins by beating Authur Abraham.  A lot of insiders think Aurthur is the world’s best middleweight, but I’ll go with Pavlik if the two ever meet. 

Juan Manuel Marquez is generally regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world, but barring cuts, I’m picking Juan Diaz to score the upset and use his youthfulness to outwork Marquez in his home state of Texas.     

Every summer I generally spend at least a month in Costa Rica and in August of 2006 I ventured down to Panama to cover Edwin Valero’s first title bout for Ring Magazine and BoxingScene.com.  For more information about Valero and his title winning effort against Mosquera, click https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=5037 and https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=5063

Thompson Boxing is back for the first time in 2009 this Friday at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario California.  The card features Juan Carlos Burgos 20-0, the son of former IBF light-flyweight champ Victor Burgos who is still recovering from his fight with Vic Darchinyan.  It also feature’s Frank Espinoza’s new charge, former amateur stand out Ronnie Rios, going for his third knockout in as many fights.  For tickets call 

(714) 935-0900. 

Next week, BoxingScene.com will publish a rare professionally translated interview with Edwin Valero.

I think the George Foreman that fought Ali would have stopped Evander Holyfield within a few rounds.  I know that it seems a bit outlandish considering Holyfield’s mental and physical fortitude but I think Foreman had the offensive tools to make the unlikely possible, and take a guy out that doesn’t get taken out, kind of like Hearns did with Duran in 1984.   

It’s looking like Yuriorkis Gamboa is on his way to becoming one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.  I just wish he would keep his hands up.   

I always thought Gamboa’s first name was a little weird and my buddy, Jason Diez, a Cuban-American commented, “Yuriorkis is a Soviet-Russian name.  After the revolution, Cubans on the Island began giving their kids Russian names.  It was a common practice.” 

Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2008, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com