Antonio DeMarco on His February Bout with Edwin Valero
By
Brent Matteo Alderson

Fans are looking forward to the potentially explosive showdown between Venezuelan knockout artist Edwin Valero and Mexican Antonio DeMarco set for February 6 in Monterrey, Mexico.
Valero 26-0 (26) is making his second defense of the WBC 135 pound title against the 24 year old DeMarco who is the WBC interim champion. Even though the DeMarco 23-1 (17) is relatively unknown outside of boxing circles he burst upon the pugilistic scene in 2009 with a dominant ninth round stoppage of Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov in February on Showtime and then registered another impressive victory with a late round stoppage of Nicaraguan Jose Alfaro in a bout for the WBC interim title this past October in Las Vegas.
Now DeMarco isn’t a pound for pound guy, but he’s probably the best fighter Valero has faced since he beat Vicente Mosquera for the WBA 130 pound title in August of 2006 in a barn-burner of a fight that saw both men hit the canvas.
Since that fight, Valero has only fought five times in almost three and a half years and hasn’t faced a true top ten contender. A lot of that has to do with Valero’s inability to get licensed by the prominent state athletic commissions in the United States due to head injuries he incurred in a motorcycle accident in his youth. And more recently, Valero had to face yet another barrier when his Visa request was denied by the State Department, which was undoubtedly caused by his unwavering support for Venezuela’s socialist dictator Hugo Chavez, who along with Fidel Castro, has been a giant thorn in the United States’ foot in regards to U.S.-Latin American relations.
Despite the lack of activity fans still want to see the undefeated knockout artist in an actual fight and De Marco should provide Valero with a sterner test than the 39 year old Antonio Pitalua was able to provide in a bout for the vacant WBC 135 pound title this past April. Although his performances aren’t awe inspiring, the 5’10 De Marco is a solid boxer-puncher who seems to be improving and is coming into their bout with considerable advantages in height and reach.
In a recent interview with FightFanNation.com’s Brent Matteo Alderson De Marco talked about the fight with Valero, “He’s a great fighter, but he’s a human being like everybody else. He’s a person that has two arms just like everybody else. Nothing is impossible! He has his strengths and his knockout power, but he has some things we can take advantage of with our intelligence and boxing ability.”
De Marco has been looking forward to this fight for a long time and commented, “Truthfully it’s a fight that I have been asking for since I was a young up and coming boxer. Like I said, nothing is impossible, I like to dream!” And boxing fans are dreaming about the possible fireworks that could erupt when the two meet in February.

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Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004 and now works as the head writer for FighFanNation.com. His 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?”