Is KO Artist Edwin Valero the LeBron James of Boxing?

Knock Out sensation Edwin Valero from Venezuela just may be the LeBron James of the sport of boxing.

Edwin Valero has an amazingly impressive boxing fight record of 24 wins all by way of KO and 0 losses. The first 18 of those wins came by a first round knockout setting a new record at the time for most 1st round KO's ever.

Valero even grabbed a few championship belts such as the WBA super feather weight belt from Vincente Mosquera via a 10th round TKO.

So you may say to yourself well why the hell have I never seen this exciting boxer fight before? Well the answer is quite simple. Edwin Valero has been banned from fighting in the United States ever since his motorcycle accident in 2001. The accident injured him with a fractured skull and made him have blood clot surgery on his brain.

Due to the strict rules and regulations of each state in the U.S. Valero was banned from fighting in America for his MRI test results did not meet the proper requirements to fight in the US.

So ever since the accident Valero has been making quite a name for himself among the more hardcore boxing fans who have been able to see most of his fights from South America and Japan via the Internet means such as YouTube.

So when do I finally get to see Valero fight on my TV you may ask? Will it be on ESPN? Showtime? HBO?

Well the answer is April 4, 2009. Valero will fight Antonio Pitalua 46(40)-3 for the vacant WBC light weight title.  Last year Valero was finally cleared by only the state of Texas to fight. So this fight will take place in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin Center.

So where can I watch this fight on which channel? Well here's the part you are not going to like for it is a shocker. The fight will be on HBO Pay Per View. Yes I know WTF?

Pay Per View? You see generally speaking when an up and coming fighter comes up he first fights a bunch of bums and most of these 15 to 20 fights do not even get televised. Then if you should be so lucky you make it to a fight on ESPN on Friday Night Fights. Then if you should be so blessed then you can make it to either Showtime's Saturday boxing.

Then if you really are on the right track you may land a fight on HBO's Boxing After Dark, the perfect showcase to introduce the world the newest up and coming hungry fighters who are really ready to prove to you why you should be their fans.

Then if you really deserve it you made it to the prime time HBO's World Championship boxing. Here you are finally fighting for that belt or better yet a household name or legend.

Then after really winning over the masses like Russel Crowe did in the film Gladiator, then maybe just maybe you are ready to headline your very own Pay Per View. Now folks to get to this point you usually have at least on average 30 fights with really big impressive wins and really big impressive names on your resume.

So why does Edwin Valero get the LeBron James treatment and skip all that humbling hungry hierarchy ladder climbing and go straight to his very own HBO PPV?

The reason why I made the comparison to LeBron James was because in my eyes LeBron James was being so hyped up from even still his days in high school to be the new savior of the NBA to make it exciting again.

Are we counting on Valero to shake up the world and make boxing exciting again to the masses so much that we believe he deserves his very own HBO PPV before even premiering on HBO BAD, or HBO WCB?

Or is his promoter just trying to fast forward to making Valero PPV worthy so he can match him up with a big fight with the number one pound for pound Manny Pacquiao?

Look, on a personal note I like Edwin Valero. He's exciting, he's got tremendous power, he's got a 1970's groovy hair style, one that you definitely do not see in the ring today in the year 2009. All of these things are great for boxing and getting the casual or even ignorant fan back into being a fan of boxing.

A lot of critics are saying Valero will easily get picked apart by a slick smart boxer. I say let Valero prove to us that he can live up to the hype just as LeBron James some what did.

Let's see if he can knock out some big names and some champions that we know of and if he does that it would be great. If Texas is the only state in America that will allow him to fight then so be it, fight in Texas over and over again.

Grab those belts and unify and keep winning by knock out and if you do all that then I guarantee the Pac Man will be yours and all these years of calling out Pacquiao may finally pay off, just becareful what you wish for. Oh yeah and fight on HBO WCB not PPV.