By Jim Dower: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum isn’t surprised that former WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) committed suicide. According to an article from Michael Marley of Examiner.com, Arum had this to say about Valero’s suicide: “I was shocked, really, shocked, when he [Valero] murdered the wife. But I was not shocked to hear this morning that he killed himself. I really figured it would end this way, starting from when he came down [talking about from alcohol and/or drugs] and he realized what he had done to the wife. So am I shocked that he then killed himself? No, I am not, because I believed he then realized he could either kill himself or spend the rest of his life in a prison cell…Valero’s smartest move, the only move he had left, was to take his own life. It was a tragic thing any way you want to look at it.”

Indeed, this is terrible news, both Valero’s suicide and the murder of his young wife. Valero had an incredible amount of talent in the boxing ring and was perhaps destined for big things in the future had he continued to keep fighting. Valero had only recently been shown on U.S. television for the first time with his 9th round stoppage of contender Antonio DeMarco last February.

Last April, Valero had captured the World Boxing Council lightweight title with an exciting 2nd round knockout over the hard hitting Antonio Pitalua. Valero knocked Pitalua down three times before the fight was finally stopped. And there was big things ahead for Valero, as Arum says. Valero would have fought Manny Pacquiao and he could have potentially been matched with Floyd Mayweather Jr. as well. There was no end in sight for the potential that Valero had as a fighter.

Arum says “I would have had him [Valero] fight two more times, moving up to 140 pounds. He and Manny [Pacquiao] would have been a great fight. “It’s too bad, because that would have been a great fight with two knockout punchers going at it head to head for 12 rounds.

Valero was found dead on Monday, hanging in his jail cell in Caracas, Venezuela. Valero had hung himself using his own cloths as a noose. Valero had been arrested the day before on Sunday for the alleged murder of his wife Jennifer Viera.