By Eric Thomas: World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) will be moving up in weight and facing light welterweight contender Lamont Peterson (27-1, 13 KO”s) in either June or July, according to Boxing Fanhouse. Both Valero and Bradley fight for Top Rank, so putting this fight together shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Valero, 28, wants to move up in weight to get his feet wet to see how he does against light welterweights.

If Valero does well, he could possibly stay at this weight class, which would help him in the future get a shot against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Peterson, 5’9”, is coming off a lopsided 12 round decision loss to WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in December. Peterson was too slow to compete with the much quicker Bradley and was hurt a couple times in the fight.

Against the 5’7” Valero, Peterson might do a lot better. Valero isn’t as quick as Bradley and not as good on the inside either. Peterson could make it very tough for Valero and possibly cause an upset if he can focus on boxing Valero and not get caught in any wars with him.

Valero recently defeated WBC lightweight interim champion Antonio DeMarco by a 9th round stoppage earlier this month. Valero’s power was too much for DeMarco to deal with, as he wore the younger fighter down with heavy shots. Surprisingly, Valero showed good movement, hand speed and boxing ability in controlling the fight and making DeMarco miss with many of his shots.

That was a side of Valero that few boxing fans had seen before in his other fights. Valero has a reputation of being a slugger who wastes little time in trying to get his opponents out of there as fast as possible. Valero is going to have to continue to show improvements in his ability to box and defend because in moving up in weight, he’ll be facing bigger and better fighters than he’s had to deal with as a lightweight.

The knock on Valero is that he still hasn’t’ faced many quality fighters during his eight year pro career. The 26-year-old Peterson is a step in the fight direction for him. If Valero can get by Peterson and not take too much punishment, he could find himself on the fast track for a fight against Pacquiao in the not too distant future.

Valero has been given the title of “Champion in recess” by the WBC. They gave him this title for him to recover from the huge gash on his forehead that he sustained in the DeMarco fight. Additionally, they also wanted him to have time to move up in weight and experiment with a fight in the light welterweight division before deciding whether he wanted to stay at lightweight and continue to defend his WBC crown or not.

Arum says “We don’t know how Valero can handle a really good boxer like Peterson, and we don’t know if Valero can handle the extra weight. And as far as Peterson is concerned, you just look at a picture of Valero, and if it was me, I wouldn’t be going within a hundred feet of him. He looks terrifying.”