By  Manny V.  - Edwin Valero summed it up best after the fight when he said, “A star was born tonight. It was the best performance of my career.”  And for a guy who has 17 straight  wins by first round knockout, that is saying a whole lot.  

Edwin Valero enhanced his perfect win and knockout record to 27-0 with 27 knockouts, stopping Antonio De Marco when his corner threw in the towel after 9 rounds of  brutal action.   The fight took place in Monterrey Mexico…read on for more

 

It was a bumpy start for Valero - the seemingly invincible Venezuelan was cut fairly badly on the cheek in the very first round.  It summoned memories of Rocky Balboa cutting Ivan Drago and Rocky’s corner saying “You see, he’s not a machine, he’s a man”.   The situation went from bad to worse for Valero in  the second round where he received a huge gash on his forehead caused by an accidental elbow.  De Marco was deducted a point however the cut resulted in Valero’s face  being covered in mask of his own  blood.

Nonetheless this only seemed to energize Valero as he pressured De Marco from that point forward landing quick, strong left hands and right hooks. 

De Marco’s game plan appeared to be to try and weather the early storm and take his time.  However Valero was a force of nature tonight that only got stronger as the rounds went on.  By the fourth  round Valero was landing blistering left hands to the head and body and De Marco had no  answer.

De Marco took the punches well  through the fifth round  and even had a rally in the sixth as he became more active.  However it still wasn’t enough to keep Valero off him who won nearly every round up to this point. 

By the seventh round Valero was using slick lateral angles and foot movements which gave the impression that he was on roller skates.  It was then that Valero’s corner told him “This is like a sparing session for you”.

De Marco had nothing to be ashamed of.  He fought with courage up to this point, but it appeared as though every time he stuck his hand out he was hit by a counter.  He came on strong in the eighth round only to get stopped in his tracks by a straight left hand which landed flush on his face.  

Valero continued the onslaught picking De Marco apart through the ninth.  He mixed up a variety of punches and landed an occasional straight left hand while De Marco was on the ropes.  There was no reason for it to continue and De Marco’s corner did the right thing and stopped the fight between the ninth and tenth rounds.  

De Marco said, “Like all Mexicans I wanted to continue.  It just wasn’t my night.  Valero is a great fighter”.

So where does Valero go from here?  Keep in mind, this was only his third fight at 135 pounds, and something tells me he will need  a few more fights in this division before taking on the likes of a Tim Bradley or Juan Urango at 140.  But another fighter which also goes by the nickname of “Dinamita”, Juan Manuel Marquez, would surely produce a dynamite fight.  I think Marquez still has too much skill and experience for Valero, but it would be fun to watch.

Final Note:
Great fight card put on by Showtime.  The undercard was full of action and had me off my seat several times.  And both the main event and the undercard had open scoring,  where the announcers told the crowed the official scorecards in the middle of the fight.  It turned out to be a nice bonus for fans.

Lets hope we see more great boxing nights like this going forward.
 

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