One of life’s lessons is that dreams and fantasies are not bound by the same rules as reality, so hop on and join me in the Pacquiao vs. Valero fantasy express.
Let’s start our journey with HBO’s 24/7. First off, would this fight need such a promotion, with the savagery that would be on display the sport is probably better off keeping this one under wraps so the anti-establishment don’t crawl from under their rocks voicing their disapproval for what they view as being a brutal and barbaric sport once again. We have seen many HBO 24/7 shows and in truth they are very enjoyable to watch, but at the same time we true fans take it with a pinch of salt. On promoting a Mayweather fight the uneducated fan would sit down on fight night expecting to witness the next Hagler – Hearns, when in truth they are served up with the sweet science and the finesse of Mayweather, who does not engage in ring warfare, more like a boxing clinic. With Pacquiao – Valero the title and promoting of a War in the ring would be justified.
The Referee, well considering we are in fantasy land my pick would be Mills Lane; Lane always let the action flow so long as the fighters were throwing punches. An ex-boxer himself he knew the art of fighting inside and to let the action continue, he was also well aware that fans paid their money to be entertained.
The Judges, not for this fight thank you.
The Fight, the collective heartbeat of those in attendance awaiting the chime of the first bell would exceed a zillion. Hundreds of thousands would be sure to purchase the PPV, and for a fight that is unlikely to go into the later rounds, Why? Because furious violence would be almost guaranteed.
Pacquiao the reigning pound for pound fighter has a mass of experience over his opponent, 238 rounds to be precise. The Filipino sensation has won titles form Flyweight to Welterweight over the past decade and took some impressive scalps along the way. Would Pacquiao resort back to his machismo style of fighting? And impose his brand of hellfire on Valero.
Valero the WBC lightweight champion has a record of 27 wins, no losses, with 27 knockouts a perfect knockout ratio of 100 percent. Of the 27 knockout wins, 19 of them were inside of the first round. The best way to describe the Venezuelan is like an animal, he tries to kill the foe. In his previous outing “El Inca” suffered a horrendous gash on his forehead and fought most of the fight like an ancient Greek gladiator fighting for his life.
The Southpaw stance, both fighters are southpaws but have had no problems in the past; in his last outing Valero had no problem taking apart Mexican Antonio DeMarco. Pacquiao last fought a southpaw when he faced WBC lightweight champion David Diaz and had no problem dissecting the Chicago native.
The Weight Issue, when Pacquiao defeated the aforementioned David Diaz it was for the WBC lightweight title now in the hands of Edwin Valero. This was in June 2008, since then the Pac-Man has been fighting in, well no division. The pound for pound king has been taking on heavier men at catch weights. Pacquiao only ever competed at lightweight for one bout before moving north, Valero has already competed in the division on three occasions. The light welterweight division would be a sensible option for this scrap to take place.
The Outcome, Valero has been on the canvas before, in 2006 when challenging Vicente Mosquera for the WBA super featherweight title. In his last fight Valero controlled the distance and showed much improvement defensively. But there are still improvements to be made. If this bout was to take place in 2010 I envisage the speed and power of Pacquiao being too much for Valero to handle.
The Sensible route, Valero’s best route to Pac Land would run through Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis. Marquez gave Manny Pacquiao two of his toughest battles to date; a win over the technically sound Marquez would only boost the Valero profile. Another fans favourite would be a bout with Australia’s Michael Katsidis; the fight would be guaranteed fireworks and would catapult Valero onto the casual fan radar. After such fights the hard hitting Venezuelan would find himself in Pacquiao infested waters.
