By Dave Lahr: Okay, so WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) already has a better record than Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO’s) after only eight years as a pro.
Pacquiao has been fighting for 15 years now in the pro ranks and has tasted the bitter feels of defeats three times already, including two draws. Valero has a perfect record of 27-0 with 27 knockouts. You can’t get any better than that, can you?
While Pacquiao has the entire country of the Philippines that backs him, Valero is on the cusp of becoming a huge star all throughout Latin American. That’s a lot of potential fans that Valero will be picking up in the next two years. If Valero can learn some English, he has the potential of becoming a crossover star in the United States.
Valero can be another Oscar De La Hoya if he can learn some English and start giving interviews, and being seen more by American audiences. And if Valero can sing a little, he’ll really help his case even more. I’ve heard Pacquiao’s singing before and I hate it.
If Valero can out-sing Pacquiao, then we’re really talking. Okay, so I think Valero has the better style of fighting compared to Pacquiao. Valero is like a punching machine and just stands in the pocket unleashing bomb after bomb at his opponents, daring them to try and land something on his chin.
Granted, Valero’s style of fighting may be a little crude compared to some fighters, but with his nonstop punching, his opponents don’t get much of a chance to throw any counter shots at him.
Pacquiao uses an annoying hit and run style of fighting that I find boring to watch. It’s like watching someone play tag with someone. Forget that. I don’t want to see someone hitting and running. I’d much rather watch a fighter like Valero with big power just leveling his opponents with a storm of heavy power punches until they either fall or – in the case of Valero’s opponent last Saturday night Antonio DeMarco – quit on their stool to save their backsides.
Valero is just too good. And I think in a maybe one or two years, Valero is going to be hogging the spotlight in boxing with his still perfect knockout record. By then, people will be begging to put Valero in with Pacquiao. I can see Valero calling the shots on equal footing with Pacquiao at that point, if Manny is still around by then. If Pacquiao retires, so much the better for Valero.
He’d have no one to compete with for the glory. The dude is going places and I can’t see anyone touching him for the next five to seven years. Valero has too much power for anyone to compete with him. The only way Valero loses is if they move up too fast to welterweight or light middleweight divisions without letting him ease his way in.
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