By Jim Dower: World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero (26-0, 26 KO’s) may very well be unbeatable at lightweight right now after knocking the stuffing out of challenger Hector Velazquez last Saturday night in Venezuela. Valero looked especially powerful in that fight, stalking the timid looking Velzquez around the ring for six rounds and hitting him with tremendous left hands. It was a very impressive display of punching power that Valero put on and it’s hard to imagine any fighter in the holding up for long under that kind of sustained punishment.

The only reason that Velazquez lasted as long as he did was because he clinched as often as he could each round, repeatedly grabbing Valero whenever he would get close to him. The clinching worked for a little in slowing Valero down, but it didn’t prevent Valero from still landing a good amount of huge shots in each round. Velazquez lost a point in the 1st round after clashing heads with Valero on three separate occasions, causing both fighters to be cut around the eyes.

Instead of being upset about it, Valero seemed even more determined to knock Velazquez out, as he began to load up with everything. It’s a credit to Velazquez that he was able to take the huge shots without going down because he was battered nonstop in the first two rounds and was only rarely throwing anything back at Valero.

In the 3rd round, Valero put in a left hand clinic, tagging Velazquez with one hard left after another and driving him clear across the ring with a hail of fire. Velazquez was unable to do much clinching in this round because each time he’d try to put his arms around Valero, he’d get drilled in the head with a straight left hand. It was all one way traffic with Valero throwing virtually all the punches. In the 4th round, Valero was literally hammering Velazquez with big wind up left hands that looked lethal. Velazquez looked like he was having no fun out there and just trying to survive. It was futile, because with the shots that Valero was hitting him with, it was only a matter of time before Valero got to him.

In the 5th round, Valero caught Velazquez against the ropes and blasted away at him with big shots. At one point, Velazquez caught Valero cleanly with a hard right hand that snapped Valero’s head back. However, it didn’t slow Valero down one bit, as he continued to pour in huge shots while Velazquez reached out with both hands trying to clinch. In the 6th round, Valero unloaded a blizzard of punches to the head of Velazquez as he stood with his back to the ropes. It was a really one-sided round. After the round ended, Velazquez’s corner wisely stopped the bout to prevent their fighter from taking anymore punishment.

Valero will be facing WBC interim lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco next on February 6th. I don’t give the skinny 5’10” DeMarco any chance at all to beat Valero. DeMarco can punch, but he won’t be able to stand up to the kind of shots that Valero will be hitting him with. Valero just doesn’t stop coming forward and his pressure eventually is too much for his opponents. Right now, I see Valero beating all the top lightweights, Juan Manuel Marquez, Michael Katsidis, Paulus Moses, Ali Funeka, Marco Antonio Barrera, Anthony Peterson, Joel Casamayor and Joan Guzman. Valero appears to be much too strong for those fighters and he’d break them down with his power. Valero’s attacks me a lot of Manny Pacquiao, only that Valero seems a lot stronger.