The spectacular performance of WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero who hammered interim champion Antonio DeMarco so badly for most of nine rounds that the Mexican’s corner stopped the fight before the start of the tenth has once again revived talk of a clash between the Venezuelan knockout artist and the “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao.
Valero has always wanted to fight Pacquiao and even when visiting the Philippines as guest at Pacquiao’s 30th birthday celebration in December 2008, Valero reiterated his desire to face Pacquiao and predicted he would beat him in an interview with us at the PLDT offices of businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan when Valero and former WBC lightweight champion David Diaz paid Pangilinan a courtesy call.
Pacquiao has said he would never back out of a challenge provided the negotiations go well and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes a Pacquiao-Valero showdown would be sensational but that Valero will first have to move up to 140 pounds and prove himself at that weight before he get a shot at the reigning pound-for-pound king.
Boxingscene.com’s Rick Reeno spoke to Arum who wants Valero to fight some of the better names at 140 pounds including WBO champion Timothy Bradley to earn a shot at Pacquiao.
Arum told Reeno, "Valero is a very smart guy. He has a real goal. He wants to fight Manny Pacquiao and that's the reason he went with us. But to fight Manny Pacquiao he has to prove himself at 140. He has to get a visa. I won't have any problem getting him licensed in Nevada now that they changed the rule. It used to be where, if you had a bad [MRI] result, you were out. They changed that and Valero's MRIs are perfect."
Arum indicated the plan for Valero would be move up to 140 because he is having trouble making the lightweight limit of 135 pounds.
Like most fight fans as well as the media, Reeno said Arum was impressed with Valero's performance on Saturday. He displayed his ability to box in a fight where most expected DeMarco to play the role of the boxer.
Arum noted Valero “has balls, maybe too much balls. Valero showed that he has a lot more boxing skill than people thought.” Arum added “A fight between him and Manny would be f**king unbelievable."
A clash between the undefeated Valero who has a record of 27 knockouts in 27 fights and Pacaquio because of their aggressive styles produce an action-packed bout that would surely excite fight fans far more than the defensive-oriented Mayweather would against Pacquiao.
Author: Ronnie Nathanielsz
Source: examiner.com
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