Roach eyes Valero for Pacquiao

If a lucrative fight with Floyd Mayweather won’t push through, top trainer Freddie Roach is eyeing Venezuelan knockout king Edwin Valero or Mexican master counter-puncher Juan Manuel Marquez as Manny Pacquiao's next foe.

After steering Pacquiao to a lopsided win over Joshua Clottey of Ghana over the weekend in Dallas, Roach said the most logical fight to take in the event the Mayweather fight doesn't take place is to bring in Valero.

The Venezuelan fighter has a perfect 27-0 win-loss record with all wins by knockout, including 19 in the first round.

“If we do Valero there, we could sell out the whole place,” Roach told boxingscene.com.

Being a big puncher and a southpaw like Pacquiao, Valero, according to Roach, is “marketable.”

Roach also mentioned Marquez as another bright prospect.

Marquez drew with Pacquiao the first time in May 2004 but narrowly lost a 12-round split decision in the rematch in March 2008.

“Personally, that’s the fight that I want,” said Roach, who believes the third fight will eventually lead to a Pacquiao knockout victory.

As soon as Pacquiao emerged victorious against Clottey before some 51,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, the name of Mayweather was immediately brought up but the American fighter’s insistence that an Olympic-style drug testing be done on Pacquiao will jeopardize the plan of pitting them against each other.

One thing that also prevents the camps of Pacquiao and Mayweather to revive talks is the fact that Mayweather has to hurdle past Shane Mosley in their May 1 clash.

Whoever wins that match is likely to be pitted against Pacquiao.

Meanwhile, Erik Morales, who is coming off a 2 1/2 year layoff, will return to the ring on March 27 against Jose Alfaro of Nicaragua.

The last fighter to beat Pacquiao, Morales believes he can beat Pacquiao again if they fight at a heavier weight class.

Even though Morales beat Pacquiao in their March 2005 encounter, that painful loss was avenged in brutal fashion in January 2006 and in November of that same year as the Gensan pride posted tenth-round and third-round stoppages, respectively.

Pacquiao’s concert cancelled
HONOLULU, Hawaii (AFP) — A lack of interest in ticket sales has forced a promoter to cancel a concert by Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao in Hawaii, said a spokesman for Island Fire Productions.

The concert was scrapped just days after Pacquiao beat Ghana’s Joshua Clottey in a welterweight world championship fight in front of a crowd of 50,994 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

Ryan Chang of Island Fire said Tuesday that just 603 tickets had been sold for the concert in Waikiki meaning he would have to absorb a loss of about $50,000 if the show went ahead.

Source: Nick Giongco  | Manila Bulletin

Valero is next after Clottey?

This is one match-up that will be sealed in the wink of an eye. Edwin Valero, the Venezuelan knockout king, has made himself available for Manny Pacquiao, assuming of course the Filipino gets past Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Dallas, Texas.

Still fresh from stopping Antonio DeMarco of Mexico for his 27th straight knockout win in as many fights, Valero, the current World Boxing Council lightweight champion, told fightnews that he will not make it hard for promoters to finalize a deal between him and Pacquiao.

“I am ready to go up to whatever weight Manny wants in order to fight him and, furthermore, I will not require the he be tested for anything,” said the 28-year-old Valero, referring to the arduous ordeal that marred the collapse of the proposed Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather bout.

“I just want to get in the ring with Manny. Whoever beats Pacquiao becomes the top dog in boxing. Pacman is my main objective for 2010,” added Valero, who is almost the same height as Pacquiao at 5-6 and also a southpaw.

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum said Valero is an ideal foe for Pacquiao in the future owing to his explosive power and devil-may-care style.

In the event talks to revive a Mayweather fight do not materialize, Arum has the likes of Valero on standby.

If Pacquiao disposes of Clottey — as many ringsiders believe he would — a fight with Mayweather should be scheduled next.

Mayweather, however, also has to clear a major stumbling block on May 1 when he faces Shane Mosley.

Source: Nick Giongco  | Manila Bulletin

Valero wants Juan Diaz or Juan Manuel Marquez

Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO's)

World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) is already looking ahead after taking apart WBC lightweight interim champion Antonio DeMarco in a stoppage after the 9th round on February 6th in Monterey, Mexico.

Valero, 28, wants to fight former lightweight champion Juan Diaz, according to Fight News. Valero also is interested in fighting WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez. And, of course, Valero very much wants to fight Manny Pacquiao, even saying that he wouldn’t make Pacquiao have to take any blood tests like Floyd Mayweather Jr. is asking for.

However, before Valero gets a shot against Pacquiao, he’s going to need to knock off a big name like Marquez to make more of a name for himself. It appears that Valero really wants to fight Diaz, and has said that he feels this will prove that he can beat a light welterweight. Diaz isn’t much of a light welterweight, having only recently moved up in weight to fight Paulie Malignaggi in two fights.

Diaz looked pretty bad in both of the fights and just doesn’t seem to have the size to do well at that weight class. Valero won’t get true gauge of whether he has what it takes to compete against light welterweights if he fights Diaz.

Instead of fighting the 5’6” Diaz, Valero needs to be looking at fighting a light welterweight like Andriy Kotelnik, Randall Bailey, Ricardo Torres, Lamont Peterson or Nate Campbell if he wants to test whether he has what it takes to fight at light welterweight.

Those are all good fighters, and I think it would let Valero know if he can fight at light welterweight if he can beat them without going life and death with them. I think it’s a bad idea for Valero to try fighting at that weight, because he doesn’t have a big frame and might end up struggling and losing. However, Valero wants a big money fight against Pacquiao, and to get that big payday, he’s going to have to prove that he’s good enough to beat some top light welterweights.

Technically, Juan Diaz is a top light welterweight by virtue of his high rankings by the IBF, WBA and WBO, but I think is probably a bottom dweller in the light welterweight based on who he can actually beat at that weight class. Valero should focus on fighting Marquez if he can and forget about Diaz. Juan has lost three out of his last five fights and it won’t be saying much if Valero beats him other than he can do what three other fights have done in the past two years.

It’s hard to get excited about seeing Valero fight Diaz after watching Juan get easily handled by Malignaggi in December. I’m betting that Top Rank, the promoters for Valero, end up putting him in with Diaz in a fight that won’t say much about the capabilities of Valero. It would be a good fight, but Diaz seems to have been figured out by his opponents as of late and it’s not such a big deal anymore when Diaz loses.

Source: Jason Kim  | BoxingNews24.com

Pacquiao-Valero would be more exciting than a fight against Mayweather

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.
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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.

Source: Ronnie Nathanielsz  | InsideSports.ph

Edwin Valero-Timothy Bradley, Arum Eyes The Fight

The unbeaten puncher from Venezuela made a successful defense of his title on Saturday night in Monterrey, Mexico. Before a hostile Mexican crowd, Valero, with a huge gash on the right side of his head, dominated interim-champion Antonio DeMarco for nine rounds. DeMarco's corner stopped the fight before the start of the tenth.

Valero's goal continues to be a fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. In order to reach that goal, Valero's next fight might take place in the junior welterweight division. Arum wants Valero to fight some of the better names at 140, including unbeaten WBO champion Timothy Bradley.

"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 said to BoxingScene.

"The plan would be to move to 140. He's having trouble at 135. He would go up to 140 and fight some good junior welterweights - like Timothy Bradley."

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.

"He has balls, maybe too much balls. Valero showed that he has a lot more boxing skill than people thought. A fight between him and Manny would be f**king unbelievable," Arum said.

Source: Rick Reeno  | BoxingScene.com

Valero stops DeMarco, retains lightweight title

MONTERREY, Mexico – Edwin Valero of Venezuela retained his WBC lightweight belt by stopping Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco in their title fight Saturday.

DeMarco sat in his corner and declined to come out for the 10th round. The Mexican was well behind on points and, though he had no obvious injuries, officials said he retired on the advice of his handlers.

When the fight ended, Valero was eight points up on the scorecards of all three judges.

Valero improved 27-0, with none of his bouts going the distance. DeMarco suffered only his second career defeat against 23 wins a draw.

“My physical strength started to show,” Valero said. “Little by little I started gaining ground. The first three or four rounds I couldn’t hit him with my jab, but then I started to connect.”


Valero picked up a gash across his forehead in the second round, which came from a DeMarco elbow that was ruled accidental. Valero needs three stitches afterward to close the wound.

Valero said he’d like a fight with Manny Pacquiao, which would force the Latin American to move up several weight categories.

“That’s the fight the world wants to see,” the Venezuelan said.

There could be many problems standing in the way of a Pacquiao-Valero fight.

Valero has been denied a U.S. visa because of a drunk-driving charge in Texas. He claims he was turned down because of his strong support for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

Valero also had a severe motorcycle accident in February 2001 that left him with a fractured skull and required surgery to remove a blood clot. He eventually failed a pre-fight exam in New York. He was handed an indefinite suspension that effectively banned him from fighting in the United States.

The Venezuelan claimed the belt with a second-round TKO of Antonio Pitalua in April last year, and defended it in December when Hector Velasquez retired after six rounds.

DeMarco took an interim version of the belt with a 10th round TKO of Jose Alfaro in October last year.

Source: Author Unknown  | Philstar.com

Edwin Valero stops Hector Valazquez in 6

WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero (26-0, 26 KOs) retained his title by sixth round TKO against Héctor Velázquez (51-14-2, 35 KOs) on Saturday night at the Polideportivo Jose Maria Vargas in La Guaira, Caracas, Venezuela. Velázquez did not come out for the seventh round. Valero suffered a cut on the bridge of the nose, but that isn’t expected to cause any problems with his scheduled February 6th fight against Antonio DeMarco in Mexico. (via fightnews.com)