When it comes to the moral and ethical line that divides them, it would be quite easy to take notice of the presence of it.
Shortly after confession – though he denied later to the police – of world boxing champion Edwin Valero as the murderer himself of his wife in a hotel room in the city of Valencia in Northern Venezuela, at dawn of April18, the boxing world was left in utter shock. Such a grim and depraved act of stabbing a very young and lovely woman Jennifer Viera de Valero to death by the man who was by matrimonial account committed to love and protect her all her life sent the world weeping in grief and want of reason to rationalize such an evil case of domestic violence. Jennifer?s ill-timed death at 24 orphaned two young children, ages 5 and 9.
Valero who boxed his way to catapult himself among the world?s elite by winning all his 27 fights by knockout ? becoming the WBA super featherweight and WBC lightweight champion in the process ? was edging closer to his dream fight with the current pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines had he not killed his wife and committed suicide hours later in his detention prison cell. Valero was 28.
On accounts of him being one of the top notch contemporary boxers, the bulk of adverse and fuming reactions to his self-inflicted downfall expectedly went public and all over the world boxing community. And as the proverbial truth goes that a man?s inner thoughts are revealed by the words that come out his mouth, responses on the Valero tragedy revealed a parcel of the hidden attitudes of some popular fighters out there.
One case of a comment and worth the reflection was that of Nonito Donaire Jr. ?The Filipino Flash? who bolted out of relative obscurity when he put to sleep the erstwhile undefeated and arrogant champion Vic Darchinyan to win the IBF and IBO Flyweight crown in 2007 ran this character-revealing line on his facebook account wall: ?I love my wife. No matter the argument, I?ll never cheat on her, lie to her, hit her or KILL her! Women should be on a pedestal.? That is how this diminutive fighter who traces his roots from General Santos City, Philippines but now makes his residence in San Leandro, California, treats women especially his wife Rachel with remarkable respect and love. Donaire, who is now the interim WBA Super Flyweight world champion must be an embodiment of the whole thing that defines the true gentleman.
For another yet on the contrary, Andre Michael Berto, who once made it known that his heart was made of beautiful stuff and was being home to the remaining few Good Samaritans out there when he pulled out the Mosley fight in order to commiserate with his Earthquake-stricken people of Haiti, put on a rather extremely repellent and insensitive comment in connection to the suicide of Valero. Extracted from an earlier article by Rick Rockwell of Examiner.com, Berto scribbled on his twitter account: ?R.I.P to Edwin Valero after killing his wife yesturday he just killed himself in jail today. WOW women are a Motherf***er boy RIP E.V.? Twitting back minutes later, Berto had to say: ?YO YO relax people relax I don’t know what happened with Edwin Valero and his wife I just feel its a sad day he was a great fighter.?So this goes to show how Berto could be so disrespectful and insensitive towards women. He appeared to have no regard at all at the ignominy of Jennifer?s death at the hands of her demented husband.
Nevertheless, Berto, the Haitian ? American who currently holds the WBC Welterweight championship belt made no delay to issue an apology for his quite unrefined statements that exude impression of his apparent inhumanity to the opposite sex.
?Everyone who knows me knows that I love and respect all women and to those who were offended earlier, I apologize.” Cried the contrite Berto. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Edwin Valero and Jennifer Viera!!” He continued. Involving people who could be his own family or people of his immediate acquaintance, Berto?s apology does have a substance but in as much as it could be taken as such, it is quite hard to deny that his unpleasant remarks do not say something undesirable of his inner character, thus shifting a bit his trail to stardom in the wrong course.
As far as boxing is concerned, Andre Berto and Nonito Donaire Jr. are seen to be headed in the same direction ? ring prominence. But, as of the present when it comes to the moral and ethical line that divides them, it would be easy to take notice of the presence of it, Donaire being on the brighter side ? both as a human being and as a fighter.
