Manny Pacquiao vs. Edwin Valero = Another Massacre

By William MacKay: Newly crowned World Boxing Council lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 36 KOs) is looking to fight the undefeated super featherweight Edwin Valero (24-0, 24 KOs) on November 8th, either in Las Vegas or Texas, with the WBC lightweight title being on the line. Other than his record, however, Valero, 26, looks little better than David Diaz, who Pacquiao easily dispatched in seven one-sided rounds last Saturday night in Las Vegas. Though this is a fight that would look good to many boxing fans considering that Valero, with his huge glossy record filled with nothing but knockouts, currently holds the WBA super featherweight title.

However, Valero appears to be a product of hype as he’s fought largely no one of any real note, mainly fighting C fighters with a couple of B class fighters mixed in for good measure. He certainly hasn’t been tested at this point in his boxing career, and in his one fight against a good fighter (Vicente Mosquera) Valero was dropped in the 3rd round and had to struggle for the rest of the way, taking a lot of big shots, before pulling it out with a TKO in the 10th round in August 2006. Since that time, Valero has been matched carefully, and hasn’t had to take on any equally tough fighters in that class, which is why Valero is still currently undefeated.

A fight against Pacquiao, if it does come off, would be a fight that would be just in time for Valero, who is looking down at the prospects of having to defend his title against young contenders like Yuriorkis Gambo or Urbano Antillon, both of whom are quickly moving up the ranks in the super featherweight division. Either of those fighters would be way too much for Valero, in my view, and would likely take him out in the first couple of rounds.

Valero, for all his supposed power, doesn’t really hit that hard, and is more of a clubber than a fighter with one-punch knockout power. His speed and defense are poor to say the least, and he’s been fortunate to have been matched against the mainly C class fighters in his career, because a good top level fighter like Antillon or Gamboa would destroy Valero in short order. As for Pacquiao, he’d probably keep Valero around for six or seven rounds, much like he did with Diaz last Saturday, a gesture done by Pacquiao to ensure that his fans get a chance to see him fight for as long as possible. During that time, he would bust Valero up, cut him badly with powerful combinations, and box circles around him.

It would be a bad mismatch, much worse than the Diaz fight. I’m really hoping that Pacquiao decides on not making this fight, and looks elsewhere for an opponent, perhaps someone like Ricky Hatton. Of course, there would be problems with making that fight because Hatton has a fight coming up in November against Paulie Malignaggi, but if the right amount of step aside money can be given to Malignaggi, then the fight might be possible. I would hope so, because the fight against Valero is going to leave a lot of boxing fans feeling frustrated and angry, feeling cheated.

However, if they had just taken a good look at Valero’s record, then seen a fight or two of his on YouTube, they’d see what I see – that Valero has fought no one, his terrible hand speed, good but not great power, and has virtually no defense whatsoever. This guy is a knockout waiting to happen. He’s what you get when you have great matchmaking, bringing him along slowly against nothing but very beatable fighters, ones that he can knockout. I do think he’s a good fighter, but not in the class of the top super featherweights like Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez, nor is he in the class of Diaz.

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