He definitely hasn't mastered boxing's defensive arts, in fact, he has no defence to speak of at all, he's failed a brain scan meaning he can't yet fight in the US (outside Texas) and he has a reputation for being somewhat unstable, but Venezuelan Edwin Valero is one of my favourite fighters at the moment and a name to look out for. The 28-year old defended his WBC lightweight title on Saturday against the durable Mexican Héctor Velázquez, who suffered heavy punishment before staying on his stool at the bell for the seventh. Valero, sporting a huge tattoo of the the Venezuelan flag and his hero Hugo Chavez across his chest, has a 100 per cent knock-out rate from his 26 fights and needed less than 18 rounds of boxing to finish off his first 18 opponents (although questions could be asked about the quality of fighters he faced early in his career).
But what's refreshing about Valero is that in many ways he fights the way most of us would when entering the ring for the first time: arms swinging wildly (and quite often missing), no obvious attempt to cover up and the courage that usually only follows a few drinks. He throws very few jabs, they're pretty much all potential haymakers. And that's the difference, when he does connect it's with astonishing, clubbing, brutal power that more often than not dispatches his opponents with time to spare. The flip side of this is he leaves himself wide open and gets hit by boxers far less skilled than he. The suspicion remains that against an experienced champion he will be found out, but the guy's got the heart of lion and a solid chin so we'd be guaranteed a war of a fight at the very least. Next up: another defence against Antonio DeMarco in February with the prospect of a place on the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard, assuming it happens and Valero can get a license, after that.
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