Edwin Valero- Lightweight Lightning?

The fight between Edwin Valero and Antonio Pitalua in the main event of the Lightweight Lightning fistorama held in Austin, Texas where the Venezuelan Knockout Artist pummeled Pitalua in the second round en route to a TKO to remain undefeated and became the WBC Lightweight champion was hardly an indication of his future in boxing.

He called out Juan Manuel Marquez and even the winner of the Manny Pacquiao- Ricky Hatton fight as his next possible opponent. On paper, his record of 25- 0 all inside the distance and 19 of those coming in the first round is quite menacing. But if he thinks he can handle Marquez or Pacquiao at this stage of his career, then he is obviously mistaken. He is not yet in the same league with those two great fighters.

Sure, he can punch, has the power in both hands and has the belt to prove it but sad to say, he is still far from being taken seriously as a legitimate elite fighter. His footwork is slow and his defense needs improvement. He's a straight-up fighter who comes forward and throw wild punches which oftentimes leave him unprotected that will make his suspect chin a very good target for a counter- puncher like Marquez or a very fast and powerful puncher like Pacquiao.

He is a work in progress though and if he can overcome his weaknesses will one day be a force to reckon with and a very dangerous opponent in the fight world.

But for now, he remains just another prospect in my book.


Here's the fight between Valero and Pitalua---