Edwin Valero: Haunting The Edges by Jeff Pryor of The Boxing Bulletin

There is a man who's legend has grown in the recesses of the sport of boxing. A man who haunts the edges of the spotlight like a spectre. His face, gaunt, rigid and intense, lips curling back in fury as he pummels opponents into the mat; something he has done nineteen times in the first round of a fight. Of the other seven fighters he has faced; men who managed to survive those opening salvos and make it through to further stanzas, none have heard the final bell toll.

Twenty six opponents were gunned down by a dark messenger, whose very appearance evokes some demonic, pagan warrior; a tuft of hair on his chin, wild twists of hair, and intense eyes that seem to be both empty and leering as they witness the carnage he delivers to each felled fighter...

That was the opening to an article I began, but did not finish, prior to Edwin Valero's matchup with Antonio DeMarco earlier this year. Rereading it now, a little chill runs up my back, for I remember particularly penning the passages there and having one word running through my head over and over with which I could think of to evoke what it was to see Valero in the heat of a fight... Read the rest here...