Tyson isn't the biggest what if, Edwin Valero is.

No

 

It doesn't.

He was always overrated by zealous knockout fanatics who thought he would punch his way into immortality based on a so-so run at super featherweight, and many of us pointed out how overrated he was all along while he was alive (right up through his entire lightweight run).

The main selling point was his punch, which all but vanished upon moving up. He'd been dropping people with single shots, and at 135 it took him several rounds each to stop Velasquez and DeMarco and those weren't even actual knockouts (they both quit). Sure, he bounced Pitalua off the canvas like a three-dollar paddle-ball-and-string toy - but so what? This was old-ass face-blocking Pitalua we're talking about.

The power did not carry up well with the extra few pounds from the sampling we got to see.

Also, his vaunted "elite boxing skills" that he supposedly had available to fall back on in the event that someone snapped his stoppage streak - overrated as well. He didn't really have elite boxing skills, he had that overwhelm-you-with-speed-and-volume style. His timing, accuracy, movement, and punch execution weren't that great. Not bad, but not great. So he thoroughly outboxed Tony DeMarco until the latter quit? Big deal, not a massive accomplishment for anyone even near the elite level. Jorge Linares outboxed Tony even more thoroughly before his stamina and inability to handle DeMarco's pressure and body shots did him in.

The whole murder-suicide scandal doesn't taint his legacy as a fighter, it taints his legacy as a man. His mediocrity (as compared to the wildly disproportionate hype he received as some masterful boxer-puncher, and especially as a puncher once he climbed to 135) is what taints his legacy as a fighter.

 

Which Salvador Sanchez? I had he lived longer, or III had he...I don't know, been better managed? (or just born with more talent? ...like a tenth of his uncle's? :yep)

 

This. Or Masao Ohba. Or Pancho Villa. But not the wife-beating murderer. He was doomed from the start with his personality.

 

Valero is not about what if ... he is perfect guy to virtually prove he was the best in boxing history.

 

I, I'm pretty certain. But the three guys I mentioned all were great fighters who were on the paths to greatness but died very young due to no fault of their own. Hell, despite all three of them dying around age 23, two of them are in the Hall and the third has a good argument. Valero, who was much older, hadn't accomplished 1/10th of what those three did.

 

:good


People get so gussied up over knockouts percentages no matter how padded or how well they stand up to scrutiny. Someone gets to like 19-0 (19), 20-0 (20), and it's like freaking Beatlemania. :-(

 

Valero's was becoming a better boxer as time went on. His fall back option was to swarm, but he was working behind the jab more and displaying better defensive movement in his last couple of fights.

That being said, I still see him as being the type of guy who would have flamed out much sooner rather than later, due to the fact that he still wasn't that hard to hit. And he always struck me as being a guy who wouldn't have responded very well to a loss (think David Lemieux and go from there).

Then again, Valero was so freaking volatile that he probably would have taken himself out of the picture at some point. What makes his death so unfortunate isn't really that he died so young...It was his decision to take his wife with him in the process.

 

^:deal

 

Edwin Valero committed suicide to duck Pacquiao and Mayweather.

 

:deal He was a legend in sparring tho. Tough sob in the ring, fan friendly style, but DeMarco is his best win that really doesnt say much. He would of gotten exposed big time by Marquez.

 

He's got about as much chance of getting either in the ring (or beating them) now as he did before. :deal





*not because either would have ever feared him, but because he wasn't and wouldn't ever be a blip on their radar.

 

gotta agree with you here, he was a great champion already at 23 years old

 

Amen. Fighter like Valero with offensive exciting styles usually receive more hype than anyone. I will sau physically Valero always looked in great shape and because of that he always came to fight, but he got hit too much. At pro I dont think he was any better than Katsidis and thats a big compliment to Valero. Valeros left vs Katsids left hook woulda been fun.

 

...Felix Savon or Teofilo Stevenson?