Former lightweight boxing champ Valero found dead in jail cell

Photo by Edsau Olivares

Photo by Edsau Olivares

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Former boxing champ Edwin Valero committed suicide in his jail cell on Monday just hours after he was arrested in his wife's killing, police said.






His all-action style and 27-0 record -- all by knockouts -- earned him a reputation as a tough, explosive crowd-pleaser. Venezuelans called him "Inca," alluding to an Indian warrior, while elsewhere he was called "Dinamita," or dynamite.





Police found three stab wounds on Viera's body, but investigators who searched the hotel rooms had yet to find the weapon used in the killing, Flores said.

In the ring, Valero shot to fame when he won his first 18 fights by first-round knockout, setting a record that has since been eclipsed by Tyrone Brunson. Valero last fought in February, stopping Antonio DeMarco in a fight in Monterrey, Mexico.

He was replaced as WBC lightweight champion in February after he expressed a desire to campaign in a higher weight division, WBC president Jose Sulaiman said.

Valero was involved in a motorcycle accident in 2001 that caused a cerebral hemorrhage, and because most jurisdictions refuse to license a fighter who has sustained a brain injury, he was unable to fight in the United States. The boxer wound up fighting mainly in Japan and Latin America, where he won his first title in 2006.

Valero also was charged with drunken driving in Texas, which is the primary reason he was denied a U.S. visa.

He accused the U.S. government of discrimination, saying his application wasn't approved because of his sympathy for Chavez, a fierce critic of the U.S. government.

He appeared at times as a special guest at televised events hosted by Chavez and was lionized by Chavez supporters as a national hero, while some critics accused him of avoiding punishment for past problems due to close links to the government.