I’m not a guy who pulls what they refer to around Detroit as an “Arthur Abraham.”
By that I mean I do not hit a man when he is clearly down as Abraham viciously and unhesitatingly did to on a knee Andre Dirrell.
So don’t think I’m piling on the the deeply troubled Edwin Valero, the WBC lightweight champ who has apparently been living in the bottle.
He’s got a DUI record deriving from being nabbed operating under the influence the night of the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao bout in Las Vegas.
Last summer, there were allegations he thumped his mother and sister. Those charges were quickly squashed.
Just a week or so ago, Valero’s pretty wife and the mother of their two children wound up in a Venzuelan hopsital with a collapsed lung and multiple bruises. This case has been squashed also as Valero’s been given a free pass for a six month stint in booze rehab.
His enablers have been more concerned with getting Valero licensed, first in Texas and then trying for Nevada, more worried about getting him into the ring than about his erratic and violent behavior in daily life.
Clearly, Bob Arum very much wanted to use Valero as a Manny Pacquiao opponent but every time Valero gains 10 yards he then fumbles bigtime.
While claiming no specific or even general medical knowledge here, I think the question everyone’s ducking and dodging, now that Valero’s alcoholism is out in the open is whether the undefeated southpaw slugger is always getting jiggy and jerky is related to his motorycle accident and brain injury resulting from that spill.
Texas issued him a boxing license long after New York refused him one. Will the Lone Star State take another, deeper look into Valero’s antisocial conduct now? Will the Nevada commission be concerned about a connection between his youthful brain injury and his “acting out?”
Pacland
Leading with his heart, WBC bossman Don Jose Sulaiman has given his 135 pound champ a six month free pass also only he labels it “champion in recess status.”
I don’t have a problem with that although Dallas Examiner Matt Stolow takes umbrage.
I come from the let he who is without sin school when it comes to moral cautionaries.
Alcoholism has long been recognized as a disease so how is it any different than when Vitali Klitschko thorws his back out or another fighter breaks a foot, an ankle or a hand?
Valero will be in the swing in the ring after 180 days of hopefully drying out. If he takes it one day at a time and studies his 12 steps, he might lick his affliction.
But getting a boxing license may be more difficult than ever now for Valero.
We all know liquor destroys brain cells so I would ask this of a medical expert: What happens to a boozehound who may have had limited “grey matter” due to a nasty motorycle wreck and brain bleed in the first place?
Valero’s domestic problems may clear up but his two toughest foes going forward will be ignoring the siren call of the sauce and nervous boxing commissions who would understandbly be skittish about letting him into the ring.
I’m not hitting the man while he’s down.
I wish him a full recovery but, if he’s never before been an underdog, Valero is now.
Next time around, if there is one, even a kangaroo court in Venezuela won’t swallow the “my wife fell down the stairs” routine.
As for chirpy dictator Hugo Chavez, nary a word has slipped from his usually wildly flapping lips lately bout his favorite fighter.
Maybe even Chavez, whose face is tattooed on Valero’s chest, is tired of the boxer’s bad acts.
He’s unbeaten fighting other men. It would be more than ironic if his career and his life are ruined by an opponent he can’t handle.
That one he sees everytime he looks into the mirror.
