By Brent Matteo Alderson

According to preliminary media reports hard punching WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero is going face the undefeated Colombian lightweight sensation Breidis Prescott this summer in a clash of South American knockout artists on Top Rank’s July 25th Latin Fury pay-per-view show.      

But Valero’s manager, Jose Castillo, spoke with BoxingScene.com and said the fight isn’t set and hasn’t even reached the preliminary stages of negotiations, “Top Rank and Bob Arum are so busy right now with the Hatton-Pacquiao fight that we haven’t had the chance to sit down and discuss the options that we have.  Some people already have Breidis Prescott in line for the fight, but last time I talked to them [Top Rank] we hadn’t agreed on anything.”

Team Valero made it clear in the interview that they are actually opposed to a fight with Prescott who just recently burst upon the boxing scene this past fall with a first round knockout of the then undefeated Amir Khan, “It could be a good fight. I think Breidis is a good prospect.  I think he needs to fight a couple of other names to get to fight Valero. I think Edwin is ready to fight the bigger names and not good prospects like Breidis who is an up and coming fighter." 

"I told Bob if that’s the fighter he’s thinking about, it has to be for a better reason than just because he thinks it’s a good fight for him.  I don’t agree with the fight.  But as far as Breidis Prescott is concerned, I feel Valero is past that. If he fights Bredis Prescott and knocks him out in a couple of rounds, they are going to say that he was strong kid that needed more experience.”

Valero’s management team isn’t apprehensive about accepting a match with Prescott because of the potential risk involved in facing a world class puncher of his caliber.

It’s just that Team Valero is aware of the fact that if Edwin wants to have a chance at greatness and some of the more lucrative paydays with some of the sport’s established stars such as Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao that there is only a small window of opportunity because those guys are inching closer to retirement.

In order to have a chance at making those fights which would be historically and economically more significant than any other bouts on the horizon, the Inca has to make his move quickly and propel his name to the forefront of the sport and substantially increase his marketability within the next twelve months by beating an impressive array of well known opponents so that he could be considered as an attractive opponent to those aforementioned stars before their imminent retirements. 

Thus Valero’s team wants to aggressively pursue a treacherous schedule and fight the type of opponents that will bring the Venezuelan native the necessary recognition even if they are are more dangerous than the 21-0 Prescott. 

When asked about a fight with the WBC 130 pound champ Humberto Soto, Castillo commented that they would actually prefer that fight over a match with Prescott, “Yeah I think that’s a better fight. Soto is a more stylish fighter. It would definitely be a better fight.  It would be a tougher fight too.” 

The fight that Team Valero is anxious to make is a match up against 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist and former two division champion Joel Casamayor, “I told Bob, I want a name. I want Joel Casamayor.  He’s got the name, he’s been a champion and people know who he is.  It took eleven rounds for Marquez to knock him out and I think Edwin should be able to beat him in less than that,” noted Castillo.

The fight with Casamayor who is still one of the top guys at 135 pounds, but is in decline and is rapidly approaching forty would be attractive because it already has the makings of a grudge match routed in political ideology and regional rivalry. 

Unbeknownst to most of the American boxing press which is non Spanish speaking, it was actually Casamayor’s remarks that sparked the incident between Valero and Jorge Barrios at the press conference for the Golden Boy Promotions Lightweight Lightweight card [featured in the BoxingScene video section]. 

“People didn’t hear, but it really started with that old man Casamayor. He’s ridiculous, he was saying in a low voice when I was up there that he was going to punch me in the face. Later I told him you’re crazy and asked why he would you say something that, and he was like you’re a communist.  Venezuela is a socialist democracy.  I told him you are you are just upset because you can’t go to Cuba.  He called me a communist again."

"Everyone has their own ideologies and he should respect that. Later on after we took pictures with Richard Schaeffer, I told him don’t tell me you are going to hit me.  You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’m going to do.  He said you’re a communist, you have your president on your chest and I told him I was proud to have it there,” commented Valero. 

Favorite Quote: - After Ali was stripped of the Heavyweight title for refusing induction into the armed forces, the WBA organized an eight man tournament to determine his successor involving Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Leotis Martin, Jimmy Ellis, Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell, Karl MildenBerger, and Thad Spencer, but after Jimmy Ellis won the tournament with controversial decisions over Floyd Patterson and Jerry Quarry, Ted Brenner the matchmaker for Madison Square Garden noted, “The WBA tournament was a total success. It eliminated all eight fighters!”

Joe Calzaghe needs to fight Carl Froch in a Unite Kingdom showdown.  It wouldn’t be good for Calzaghe’s legacy if his domestic supremacy at 168 and 175 pounds was in question at the time of his retirement.  He needs to wrap up this one last loose end.

I think Jermaine Taylor still has to be considered the best professional from the 2000 U.S. Olympic team.  He made a lot of money, engaged in a couple of classics against Pavlik and Froch, and won the linear middleweight title.  He just might beat Froch in a rematch if he can get one.

Don’t Froch and Lucian Bute have vulnerable written all over them?  Any fighter in the top ten on any given day could beat either one of those guys.  I guess that’s one of the things that make them exciting.   

I like Pacquiao against Hatton in a barn-burner.

I think Juan Manuel Marquez will be a tough fight for Floyd, but a lot of boxing people think it’s an easy one for him and feel like the size disparity will equate to an advantage that Marquez won’t be able to  overcome, “Marquez is a smaller fighter, he’s a lightweight at best, and I think it could be a good fight, but it’s not a difficult fight for Mayweather,” noted Edwin Valero’s manager Ricardo Castillo.

I still don’t consider Floyd a real welterweight and consider a clash between the two to be a fight between a 130 pounder and 140-pounder.  

Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2008, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com