Edwin Valero

Edwin Valero
Valero in 2009
Statistics
Nickname(s)	El Inca ("The Inca") El Dinamita ("The Dynamite") El Terminator The Liquidator[1]
Rated at	Super featherweight Lightweight
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Nationality	Venezuelan
Born	(1981-12-03)December 3, 1981 Bolero Alto, Mérida, Venezuela
Died	April 19, 2010(2010-04-19) (aged 28) Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	27
Wins	27
Wins by KO	27
Losses	0

Edwin Valero (December 3, 1981 – April 19, 2010) was a Venezuelan professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2010. He was an undefeated two-weight world champion at the time of his death, having held the WBA super featherweight title from 2006 to 2008, and the WBC lightweight title from 2009 to 2010. A southpaw known for his highly aggressive style and exceptional punching power, Valero remains the only champion in the 30-year history of the WBC to have won every fight in his career by knockout. In 2010, Valero committed suicide in jail after being arrested on suspicion of killing his wife.

Amateur career

Valero started boxing at the age of 12, ostensibly compiling an amateur record of 86–6 with 57 knockouts. He was a Venezuelan national amateur champion three years running, as well as a Central and South American champion (beating Francisco Bojado).^[2][3]

Professional career

On February 25, 2006, Valero set a new world record by winning his first 18 fights as a professional by first-round knockout, breaking Arthur Susskind's historic record set in 1905. That record has since been broken by Tyrone Brunson, but most boxing experts do not acknowledge Brunson's claim due to the extremely poor level of opposition he faced while making his way to the record; in contrast to Valero's opponents, just one of Brunson's 19 opponents had a winning record, and 6 had failed to win a single fight in their careers.^[4]

Because of his punching power and perfect knockout ratio, Valero became a cult sensation in the community. His biggest backers in the sport included Doug Fischer of The Ring magazine (who, on the former boxing website he used to write for, Maxboxing.com, regularly covered Valero in his articles for the website which also aired videos of his workouts and sparring sessions) and Boxing Inside with journalist Peter Palmiere. The Los Angeles local cable show also aired Valero's workouts, sparring sessions and interviews conducted by Palmiere.

In his first attempt at a world title, on August 5, 2006, Valero faced WBA super featherweight champion Vicente Mosquera. In what would arguably prove to be both boxers' toughest contest, Valero started out the match in signature fashion, knocking down the champion twice in the first round. However, Mosquera recovered and in the third round responded by knocking Valero down, which was to be Valero's only knockdown in his career.^[5] At this point in his 19–0 career, Valero's longest fight had only been two rounds,^[6] and the question remained as to whether the untested Valero had the stamina to go the distance. The answer came after ten grueling rounds when the ever-tenacious Mosquera finally started to wane under the challenger's continuous heavy-handed counters. Deciding Mosquera had received enough punishment, the referee called a halt to the match at 2:00 of round ten, making the 24-year-old Valero champion. Valero would go on to successfully defend the title four times before moving up in weight class, with his final defense a seventh-round stoppage over Takehiro Shimada in Tokyo on June 12, 2008.

On September 3, 2008, Valero vacated his WBA title to fight in the lightweight division.^[7] He fought Antonio Pitalua for the vacant WBC lightweight title on April 4, 2009 in Austin, Texas. The bout marked the first time Valero had fought in the United States since 2003. Pitalua came in to the fight with 14 consecutive knockouts on his 46–3 record, and with Valero's 24 consecutive knockouts, the stage was set for a decisive match between two heavy hitters. After an uneventful first round, Valero knocked Pitalua down just seconds into the second round with a right hook. Pitalua managed to get up, but suffered two more knockdowns before the referee stopped the fight at 0:49 of round two.^[8][9]

Valero's next fight came on his home turf of Venezuela, in La Guaira, where he successfully defended his WBC lightweight title by a TKO victory over Hector Velasquez in the seventh round. Valero's second and final defense of the belt came against Antonio DeMarco in Mexico, on February 6, 2010. In the second round, Valero suffered a serious cut over his right eye after DeMarco landed an unintentional elbow.^[10] Valero was able to continue the fight and went on to win by corner retirement when DeMarco failed to answer the bell for the tenth round. This would be Valero's last match. In March 2010, Valero vacated his WBC title in order to compete in the light welterweight division.^[11] Valero's professional record at the time of his death was 27–0, making him one of the few world champions to finish their careers undefeated.

Career roadblocks

On February 5, 2001, Valero was involved in a severe motorcycle accident in which he wasn't wearing a helmet. He fractured his skull and had surgery to remove a blood clot. This injury was sustained prior to him launching his pro career, and it created roadblocks to major bodies sanctioning his fights. Valero claimed that his doctor cleared him to fight on January 17, 2002, and he turned pro that July with a first-round KO.

Valero appeared to hit the jackpot when he was signed after his 12th pro fight by Golden Boy Promotions. Valero was scheduled to appear on HBO's Boxing After Dark, but in January 2004, he failed an MRI due to brain scan irregularities in New York and thus was not allowed to fight in the United States. As a result, the fight did not take place. He continued to fight outside the US and on March 25, 2008, Valero was cleared to box in the state of Texas.^[12]

Allegations of assault

It was reported on September 27, 2009, that Edwin Valero had been arrested on assault charges. A man alleged that the boxer attacked his mother and sister over a feud.^[13] Valero denied the allegations and considered them an attempt to harm his reputation. His mother came forward to tell the media that no foul play was involved.

On March 25, 2010, Valero was again accused of assault, this time by his wife, who was sent to hospital for bruises and a damaged lung.^[14] Valero denied any wrongdoing, stating his wife stumbled from a stairway but investigators doubted him.^[15] His wife later told authorities that her injuries were caused by an accident on some stairs, despite the fact that she had been treated for similar injuries twice before at the hospital.^[16] Because of the vicious personality he showed at the hospital where his wife was treated, Valero was sent for six months of psychiatric rehabilitation.^[17]

Murder charges and suicide

On April 18, 2010, Valero was arrested after police found the body of his 24-year-old wife, Carolina, in a hotel in the city of Valencia, Carabobo.^[18][19] Valero was considered a suspect and was taken to jail.^[20] Valero allegedly admitted to hotel security and police that he had murdered his wife.^[21] The following day he was found hanging in his prison cell, by his pants. He was pronounced legally dead, at 1:30 AM.^[22]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
27	Win	27-0	Antonio DeMarco	RTD	9 (12), 3:00	Feb 6, 2010	Monterrey Arena, Monterrey, Mexico	Retained WBC lightweight title
26	Win	26-0	Héctor Velázquez	RTD	7 (12), 0:10	Dec 19, 2009	Polideportivo José María Vargas, La Guaira, Venezuela	Retained WBC lightweight title
25	Win	25-0	Antonio Pitalúa	TKO	2 (12), 0:49	Apr 4, 2009	Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas, U.S.	Won vacant WBC lightweight title
24	Win	24-0	Takehiro Shimada	TKO	7 (12), 1:55	Jun 12, 2008	Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA super featherweight title
23	Win	23-0	Zaid Zavaleta	TKO	3 (12), 1:18	Dec 15, 2007	Plaza de Toros, Cancún, Mexico	Retained WBA super featherweight title
22	Win	22-0	Nobuhito Honmo	TKO	8 (12), 1:54	May 3, 2007	Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA super featherweight title
21	Win	21-0	Michael Lozada	TKO	1 (12), 1:12	Jan 3, 2007	Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan	Retained WBA super featherweight title
20	Win	20-0	Vicente Mosquera	TKO	10 (12), 2:00	Aug 5, 2006	Figali Convention Center, Panama City, Panama	Won WBA super featherweight title
19	Win	19-0	Genaro Trazancos	TKO	2 (6), 1:48	Mar 25, 2006	World Memorial Hall, Kobe, Japan
18	Win	18-0	Whyber Garcia	TKO	1 (12), 2:57	Feb 25, 2006	Centro Recreacional Yesterday, Turmero, Venezuela	Won WBA Fedelatin super featherweight title
17	Win	17-0	Aram Ramazyan	KO	1 (8), 0:20	Dec 5, 2005	Palais Omnisports, Paris, France
16	Win	16-0	Hero Bando	TKO	1 (6), 1:56	Sep 25, 2005	Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan
15	Win	15-0	Jose Hernandez	KO	1 (10), 0:41	Aug 13, 2005	Circulo Militar, Maracay, Venezuela
14	Win	14-0	Esteban de Jesus Morales	KO	1 (10), 1:15	Jul 1, 2005	Roberto Durán Arena, Panama City, Panama
13	Win	13-0	Hernan Abraham Valenzuela	TKO	1 (10), 2:10	May 21, 2005	Ce.De.M. N° 2, Buenos Aires, Argentina
12	Win	12-0	Tomas Zambrano	TKO	1 (10), 1:45	Dec 18, 2003	Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S.
11	Win	11-0	Alejandro Heredia	KO	1 (10)	Oct 27, 2003	Gimnasio José Beracasa, Caracas, Venezuela
10	Win	10-0	Roque Cassiani	TKO	1 (8), 2:21	Aug 28, 2003	Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S.
9	Win	9-0	Emmanuel Ford	TKO	1 (6)	Jul 19, 2003	Activity Center, Maywood, California, U.S.
8	Win	8-0	Dairo Julio	TKO	1 (8)	May 23, 2003	Hotel Tamanaco Intercontinental, Caracas, Venezuela
7	Win	7-0	Edgar Mendoza	TKO	1 (8)	May 17, 2003	Centro Recreacional Yesterday, Turmero, Venezuela
6	Win	6-0	Danny Sandoval	KO	1 (8)	Mar 22, 2003	Centro Recreacional Yesterday, Turmero, Venezuela
5	Win	5-0	Julio Pineda	KO	1 (6)	Nov 30, 2002	Caracas, Venezuela
4	Win	4-0	Luis Soto	TKO	1 (6)	Nov 18, 2002	Caracas, Venezuela
3	Win	3-0	Angel Alirio Rivero	TKO	1 (4)	Oct 26, 2002	Centro Recreacional Yesterday, Turmero, Venezuela
2	Win	2-0	Danny Sandoval	TKO	1 (4)	Sep 23, 2002	Caracas, Venezuela
1	Win	1-0	Eduardo Hernandez	TKO	1 (4), 2:02	Jul 9, 2002	Parque Naciones Unidas, Caracas, Venezuela	Professional debut

Titles in boxing

References

External links

• Edwin Valero - Daily Telegraph obituary
• Article "Edwin Valero was Murdered"
• Edwin Valero Open Workout Photo Gallery