The Tragic Tale of Edwin Valero

Written by Joe Hicketts

In boxing there are often airs of mystique around certain fighters, certain traits that lend themselves to becoming part of legend: punchers, fighters that ended their career too young, dramatic personal lives, and above all controversy. Edwin Valero had it all. The question of what drives a person like Valero is one that says as much about your politics as your core morality, and it is one that is impossible to ignore when looking at his amazing but horrifying career.

© Thomas Moran. All rights reserved. Used exclusively for Boxing is Love.

Born to a poor family in Merida Venezuela Edwin was one of four children and had to share 2 bedrooms with his siblings and parents, he ended up dropping out of school aged 9 and got his first taste for combat sports in Taekwondo but ended up having to drop out due to lack of funds. While working in a bicycle shop the owner turned out to be a boxer and Edwin ended up taking to the sport and moving into the gym in order to save money on travel. 

He was a very solid amateur becoming a three time national champion in Venezuela. However despite his clear talent for the sweet science there was always something darker to Valero’s personality, one that boxing that unfortunately was allowed to encourage. 

Valero had a clear violent demeanour in the ring and that led to huge successes albeit against somewhat limited opposition, becoming a two weight world champion in the mid to late 2000s at Super Featherweight and Lightweight. He was characterised by an aggressive swarming style out of a Southpaw stance with good power to match. 

In boxing you very often see someone's personality in their fighting style, and what you saw in Valero was a relentless desire to win and an intensity with each shot that you rarely see at an elite level. There were defensive flaws in a somewhat lack of a jab and a high chin, but the power, combination punching and high output of Valero was more than enough to compensate, winning all 27 of his fights by knockout, most notably in his final fight against solid operator Antonio DeMarco. It is a record that deserves to be spoken about with reverence.

Taken in isolation Valero's boxing is one that should be revered, but unfortunately it is the tale outside of the ring that he is arguably more famous for. Clashes with the law were a recurring theme throughout his life, with drug related issues and run-ins with the police a persistent feature of his younger years. This pattern sadly continued into adulthood, culminating in a DUI after driving into a tree and being found carrying an illegal firearm in Texas.

His personal life was equally troubled. Widely alleged beatings of his wife and a reported incident involving his mother and sister painted a picture of a man who simply could not let go of the world he came from. He was said to be the only one of 30 friends still alive from his teenage years, a sobering detail that speaks to just how brutal his upbringing must have been. A motorcycle crash that left a small mark on his brain may have further darkened his outlook, with former promoter Bob Arum recalling that "he was kind of a nice guy, but then he could go off at any time."

It ended in the most tragic of circumstances, with Valero taking the life of his wife before ending his own in a prison cell. The question of what drove him to such an end remains hotly debated, whether this was a man shaped and ultimately destroyed by the environment he could never escape, or something more complicated still. What is certain is that it stands as one of the saddest stories this sport has ever seen, and thankfully one that remains without parallel.