Kevin lole from Yahoo sports wrote an awesome piece on Valero.
When you’ve knocked out every man who’s dared to climb between the ropes and fight 
you, you get used to seeing opponents cower. You get used to the track meet. You recognize the look of fear.
Edwin Valero has seen the look so many times, he probably can’t count them. He’s a puncher of increasing renown, who has knocked out all 24 men he’s faced, including 19 in the first round. He’s become something of a boxing Paul Bunyan, a mythological figure whose power gets more extraordinary with every retelling.
Valero’s boxing skills, though, have been rudimentary at best. He’s never been mistaken for Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring, let alone for Willie Pep. A defensive wizard he is not.
And Valero has never really had to face serious fire in return. Most of the men he’s faced have been ducking for cover not long after the opening bell.
He’s almost guaranteed to get some fire back on Saturday, however, when he meets veteran Antonio Pitalua for the vacant WBC lightweight title on a Golden Boy Promotions pay-per-view card at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
Pitalua is 39 and other than for the dinner bell, hasn’t run once in his life. He’ll be off his stool and in Valero’s face about, oh, two seconds after the opening bell.
When he does that is when Valero’s abilities will come into much clearer focus.
Valero is 27 and harbors the notion that he’s the guy who will be able to knock off Manny Pacquiao. Despite the glittering record, though, he hasn’t proven he deserves it.
Pitalua is 46-3 with 40 knockouts and relishes a slugfest. If Valero can withstand the opening onslaught and get himself into the middle portion of the fight, he should roll to victory and be fine.
The problem, though, is that there have been many great punchers in the game who haven’t been able to take much more than a jab themselves. And if you can’t take a punch, you can’t compete with the likes of Pacquiao.
“I know my capacities,” Pitalua said on a recent teleconference. “I can take a punch. I fought my entire career – most of my career – in Mexico. Edwin knows what Mexican fighters bring to the table and I’ve fought all tough fighters. I want to know who has he fought who’s tough? Yes, he can punch, but can he take a punch? And on April 4 we’ll see because I can punch.”
Valero professes respect for Pitalua, who knocked out Jose Armando Santa Cruz in six rounds in his last outing, but insists he’s not concerned by the threat Pitalua brings.
Valero, who is now trained by one-time Oscar De La Hoya trainer Robert Alcazar, isn’t expecting his 25th professional fight to be any different from his first 24. If he can handle a guy who is not afraid of him and who will be in his face trying to knock him out, rather than facing someone afraid of his power and looking to survive, he should collect knockout No. 25 and move toward the kind of fight he’s dreaming of landing.
There’s still a lot that is not known about Valero, though.
“I know what I can do, and I know what Pitalua brings,” Valero said. “And he’s a fighter that on the night of the fight he’s going to roll; he’s going to fall. He’s too slow for me. I’m too fast, I’m too strong for him, and I want to fight the best. He’s a good fighter, but I’m up for bigger and better things.”
What could be next if he gets past Pitalua is a bout with Amir Khan, who recently with the aid of a massive cut stopped Marco Antonio Barrera in the fifth round. But Valero’s record makes him a possible opponent for guys like Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Before he gets those fights, though, he’ll need further medical clearance in the U.S. He suffered a head injury in a 2001 motorcycle accident that caused him to be placed on medical suspension in New York.
All other U.S. jurisdictions honored that suspension until he was examined independently and Texas officials made the call to license him. His new promoter, Top Rank, is soon going to begin the process of getting him licensed in other venues.
“Every fighter that steps in the ring runs a risk of being injured or being hurt,” Valero said. “And I am in no more risk than any other fighter. You know, because of the procedure, because of the surgery that I had – I want to clarify, it was an accident that I had many years ago on a motorcycle. It was very minor [and] it wasn’t what it has been played out to be. It was outside of my brain; it wasn’t that they took my brain out, washed it and put it back in. It was nothing like that.
“It was a vein that erupted and they took care of it. I’ve been to doctors all over the world. I’ve been to Argentina, I’ve been to Panama, I’ve been to Venezuela. I have seen all the best doctors in America. I actually saw the doctor that performed the surgery on Marco Antonio Barrera, Dr. Madrazo, and they’ve all told me the same that I’m clear to fight; that I’m OK; that I don’t run any more risks than any other fighter.”
The risk he faces on Saturday isn’t a medical one; it’s an age-old question that has dimmed many stars throughout the years: Can he take it nearly as well as he can give it?
If he can, a star may be born on Saturday in the shadow of the Texas state capitol.
By Kevin lole from Yahoo sports