I could see Valero barely beat Linares in a war, but as persistant and beastly as Valero fought he had no defense. The legendary brawlers and ko artists had at least some defense. Valero did do good boxing vs DeMarco and he did show he could box well outclassing DeMarco despite bleeding bad. So Valero joins the list of What if's. I don't rate him highly, but not that low either. He was a sparring legend perhaps why he displayed so much confidence in the ring.
its tough to say. he was just hitting the scene when he died. he looked very impressive, could u imagine valero vs rios OMG.!!!! biggest war of all time straight up. maybe im exaggerating, but thats a dream matchup.
He folds once he meets a guy he can't hit or who can stand up to his shots (or some combination there of). The latter would definitely happen as he moved up in weight.
if he stuck in at the boxing without the outside distractions he would create ( imo it would be alot )and aloud to box in the usa , he would be in top 10 p4p a reckon ... highly rate him
i reckon he would've fared well up at 140. against rios would've been an awesome firefight. against the likes of kahn, maidana, matthyse, bradley....he couldve had the making to beat all of them. against marquez, pacquiao......he wouldve lost in two great fights. alas, we will never know.