By Oliver Suarez
In one of my articles, I wrote whether or not Valero was destined to be forever an underground phenom, whose greatness will depend upon the word of mouth or clips from Youtube.
Edwin Valero definitely had an impressive record of 26 wins and 0 loses going into his fight with DeMarco. What is more impressive is that all his wins were by KO.
But despite his record, he remained a virtual ‘unknown’ to many boxing fans. It was because he suffered a head injury as a young man and thus had a difficult time obtaining a license to fight in the U.S. As a result, he fought mostly in obscurity in Japan against mediocre opponents.
Eventually he did get a chance to fight in here, but unfortunately that was short lived since he was denied his visa because of a DUI charge earlier last year. For that reason, many hardcore fans were left to wonder if Valero will ever get a chance to showcase his skills at a larger stage. Hardcore boxing fans were finally hoping to find out if Valero truly had the potential to be a star or just another overhyped fighter destined for failure.
Well, maybe we just found out the answer as Edwin Valero dominated a solid opponent in Antonio DeMarco. In the fight, he showed not only that he had underrated skills but the mental toughness that is needed to be successful in the sport. In the early rounds, Valero was cut severely by an unintentional elbow from DeMarco, but instead of using it as an excuse to get out of the fight; he used that as a motivation to force his will on his opponent.
For much of the fight, Valero was constantly putting pressure on DeMarco with straight lefts and combinations. A couple of times, he even used Pacquiao’s patented move of moving to the side to throw a punch.
Valero also showed more maturity as a fighter by being more disciplined and using controlled aggression to slowly break down his opponent. No longer the reckless brawler who came at his opponent without fear for possible retaliations; he picked his spots and even smartly backed away at times after throwing combinations.
Valero’s defense was also better than advertised. He won’t be mistaken for Floyd Mayweather, but his defense is more than adequate as he showed enough head movement and athleticism to be able to avoid most of DeMarco’s punches.
The jury is still out on how truly good Valero is, but all he does is constantly prove his critics wrong as they continue to undermine his capacity as a fighter. A trait that he shares with Manny Pacquiao, the fighter he is most often compared to. Valero may never match the level of Pacquiao, but maybe he can provide the same type of excitement in the ring and that can’t be too bad.
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