Venezuelan slugger Edwin “El Inca” Valero kept his knockout streak alive by stopping Colombian Antonio Pitalua in the second round in their fight held Saturday, April 4, at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
Valero started out aggressively in the opening round, tagging the seemingly tentative Pitalua with shots to the head and body. Pitalua never had the chance to get off offensively and was inactive for most of the first round.
In the second round, it was only a matter of time, as Valero continued to pressure Pitalua. A cracking right hook by Valero dropped Pitalua but the latter managed to get up. Valero, however, was instantly upon him, smothering the Colombian with power punches. Valero knocked Pitalua down for a second, and then a third and last time before the referee called a halt to the bout, 49 seconds into the second round. With the win, Valero picked up the WBC lightweight title that was vacated by Manny Pacquiao.
It was Valero’s first fight in the United States since he knocked out unheralded Tomas Zambrano in the first round six years ago in California.
Valero suffered a fractured skull while he was still in the amateur ranks and this has hampered his career somewhat, as most of the major sanctioning bodies banned him from fighting in the US. In the past few years he has been fighting in Japan, his native Venezuela, and in several other countries before finally being cleared last month to box in the state of Texas.
With the win, Valero is primed to face more noteworthy opponents such as Juan Diaz, the lineal lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, and even pound-for-pound king Pacquiao.
Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Michael “The Great” Katsidis won by stoppage in the seventh round against Jesus “El Matador” Chavez. It was the second straight win for the Australian after suffering back-to-back losses to Joel Casamayor (by TKO) and Juan Diaz (by split decision).
Bradley unifies titles
On the same night, Timothy Bradley overcame an early knockdown to win by unanimous decision over Kendall Holt in their light welterweight unification bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Bradley tasted the canvas in the first round courtesy of a Holt left hook that hit him squarely in the jaw. However, Bradley bounced back in the succeeding rounds with crisp body punching that softened up Holt and took the steam off his punches. The overhand right also proved to be an effective weapon for Bradley all night long, while Holt’s best punches were the jab and left hook.
In the final round, a series of punches by Holt knocked Bradley down again but this wasn’t enough as the scorecards read 111-115, 112-114, 111-115 all in favor of Bradley who remained undefeated at 24-0 and now holds both the WBC and WBO light welterweight titles.
Holt’s record dropped to 25-3.
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