Fair Play: Valero, the champ, couldn't face his demons
IT’S a tale most Pinoy boxing fans are familiar with.
Growing up dirt poor and without a father who left him, a young man is forced to work at a young age to help feed his family.
After discovering a knack for boxing, the left-handed boxer begins eking out a living by knocking people senseless, often through his signature straight left to the face.
At times he looks like an awkward puncher and his defense appears questionable but he proves doubters wrong and wins the 130- and 135-lb. belts.
Along the way, he captures the imagination of a country and become one of its modern heroes.
The rest of the boxing world, too, began treating Edwin Valero as a hero. They even got to talking if he could beat even Manny Pacquiao.
Now, we’ll never know.
Thanks to my usual source of bootleg copies of fights, I got to catch two of Valero’s last three fights—a second-round demolition of Antonio Pitalua and a nine-round win over Antonio de Marco.
Against de Marco, Valero got hit by an accidental elbow and had a four-inch gash on his forehead in the second round. It was also during that fight that I learned from
commentators Valero grew up without a father and that he fought like a combination of the old and new Pacquiao.
However, it wasn’t a fight with Pacquiao that crossed my mind when I saw the match. De Marco, 24, was at the prime of his career and seemed to take Valero’s punches well.
But not Jennifer Viera, Valero’s former wife and murder victim.
Just last month, Jennifer was rushed to a hospital with bruises and a collapsed lung brought about by several broken ribs.
The injuries were so severe that a judge ordered Valero to stay away from his wife.
It wasn’t also the first time that Mrs. Valero got injured but sadly she said her injuries were caused by a fall.
Stories that are coming out of Valero’s drug history are quite surprising.
His own mother-in-law said the boxer used cocaine since he was 12. But because of who he was, it was all brushed aside.
Another boxer, Jose Luis Varela, said his friends didn’t urge Valero to seek treatment for a growing drug and alcohol addiction.
Tales of his drug-use are surprising since there’s been no report of his ever failing a post-fight test and boxers who mess around during training usually end up kissing the canvas.
“We didn’t want to see that he had problems,” Varela said during his friend’s funeral.
It’s a tale, sadly, that we are familiar with.
Edwin Valero was in Cebu on Dec. 20, 2008. I can’t forget that date because Valero’s impromptu press con made a few of my friends miss my wedding.
One guy, who sat at Valero’s table after the press con, said he was surprised with how much wine the boxer drank.
“I opened around four bottles and he filled the wine glass all the time, not the traditional half of the glass,” the guy said in a text message. “He was drinking it like water, not sipping it but gulping it.”
Valero, the boxer, fought and beat the meanest champions in the ring.
But Valero, the man, refused to fight and lost to his demons—drugs and alcohol.
He won his greatest fights and earned two belts.
But in the end, he couldn’t win the fight that really mattered.
Growing up dirt poor and without a father who left him, a young man is forced to work at a young age to help feed his family.
After discovering a knack for boxing, the left-handed boxer begins eking out a living by knocking people senseless, often through his signature straight left to the face.
At times he looks like an awkward puncher and his defense appears questionable but he proves doubters wrong and wins the 130- and 135-lb. belts.
Along the way, he captures the imagination of a country and become one of its modern heroes.
The rest of the boxing world, too, began treating Edwin Valero as a hero. They even got to talking if he could beat even Manny Pacquiao.
Now, we’ll never know.
Thanks to my usual source of bootleg copies of fights, I got to catch two of Valero’s last three fights—a second-round demolition of Antonio Pitalua and a nine-round win over Antonio de Marco.
Against de Marco, Valero got hit by an accidental elbow and had a four-inch gash on his forehead in the second round. It was also during that fight that I learned from
commentators Valero grew up without a father and that he fought like a combination of the old and new Pacquiao.
However, it wasn’t a fight with Pacquiao that crossed my mind when I saw the match. De Marco, 24, was at the prime of his career and seemed to take Valero’s punches well.
But not Jennifer Viera, Valero’s former wife and murder victim.
Just last month, Jennifer was rushed to a hospital with bruises and a collapsed lung brought about by several broken ribs.
The injuries were so severe that a judge ordered Valero to stay away from his wife.
It wasn’t also the first time that Mrs. Valero got injured but sadly she said her injuries were caused by a fall.
Stories that are coming out of Valero’s drug history are quite surprising.
His own mother-in-law said the boxer used cocaine since he was 12. But because of who he was, it was all brushed aside.
Another boxer, Jose Luis Varela, said his friends didn’t urge Valero to seek treatment for a growing drug and alcohol addiction.
Tales of his drug-use are surprising since there’s been no report of his ever failing a post-fight test and boxers who mess around during training usually end up kissing the canvas.
“We didn’t want to see that he had problems,” Varela said during his friend’s funeral.
It’s a tale, sadly, that we are familiar with.
Edwin Valero was in Cebu on Dec. 20, 2008. I can’t forget that date because Valero’s impromptu press con made a few of my friends miss my wedding.
One guy, who sat at Valero’s table after the press con, said he was surprised with how much wine the boxer drank.
“I opened around four bottles and he filled the wine glass all the time, not the traditional half of the glass,” the guy said in a text message. “He was drinking it like water, not sipping it but gulping it.”
Valero, the boxer, fought and beat the meanest champions in the ring.
But Valero, the man, refused to fight and lost to his demons—drugs and alcohol.
He won his greatest fights and earned two belts.
But in the end, he couldn’t win the fight that really mattered.
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