10.04.09 – by James Slater – Unbeaten 27-year-old lightweight Edwin Valero has a quite amazing pro record. Perfect at 25-0, the reigning WBC 135-pound king also has a perfect percentage when it comes to his KO ratio. Not only have all 25 of his opponents failed to come close to beating him, no opponent has been able to make it to the final bell against “Dinamita” either. The question is, is there any lightweight out there today capable of taking the Venezuelan’s awesome punching power?
The thing that is particularly impressive abut the murderous-punching southpaw is the fact that his power does not in any way fade in the later rounds of a fight. Valero, as he has proven by stopping guys as late as the 8th to 10th rounds, is as dangerous late as he is in the early rounds of a bout. Starting his pro career off in stunning fashion, in which he scored an amazing eighteen 1st round stoppages, Valero has since shown he has stamina and patience.. The critics can’t really come up with anything overly negative about this possible mega-star of the future, apart from the fact that he has yet to box against the absolute elite.
So far, though he has destroyed good fighters like Vicente Mosquera (the fight in which Valero won his first world title, down at super-featherweight) and Antonio Pitalua (last time out, winning the WBC lightweight crown), it is fair to say the 27-year-old has not yet been in with a great fighter. This is what Valero wants to do as soon as he can, however, talking as he has been of moving up in weight yet again so as to secure a fight with the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao winner. Also, Valero has said he’d like a fight with Mexican great and rival lightweight ruler Juan Manuel Marquez. Should he be able to lure either one of these fighters into the ring with them and beat them, Valero will definitely have arrived on the big stage.
Speaking after his 2nd round annihilation of Mosquera a few days ago, Valero said the win was just the beginning of big things for him, and that, “no man can take my punch.” A fight against one of the three fighters he targeted would let us know of this is indeed true. Now that he is allowed to box inside the US, Valero just might be able to get the big fights he so craves. As long as he keeps his 100-percent KO record the fans will continue to view him as something very special, and these same fans will put pressure on the top lightweights/and or light-welterweights to test their chins against his raw power.
Due to fight again in late July, in defence of his WBC belt, Valero has yet to find a challenger. Hopefully, “Dinamita” will find himself a well known fighter who has enough desire to get it on with him. KO’ing another largely unknown foe will tell us nothing we do not already know about the fighter some see as potentially the most exciting boxer in the world.
We know Valero can hit like a mule kicks; now we want to see if he can stop one of the sport’s best operators with his power.