Valero keeps WBA 130lb belt!
By Joe Koizumi
Japan-based Venezuelan KO artist Edwin Valero (22-0, 22 KOs), 130, kept his WBA 130-pound belt as he kept stalking WBA mandatory challenger Nobuhito Honmo (29-5-2, 5 KOs), 129.5, all night, bloodied him by opening four lacerations and finally halted him at 1:54 of the eighth round on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan. Valero, a hard-punching southpaw, failed to drop the defensive and negative Japanese, but kept throwing punches from all angles to make it a very lopsided affair. Before the stoppage due to Honmo's bad bleeding, the official scorecards were: 70-63, 70-64 and 69-64, all for the defending champ. Valero is to fight his next bout in the US according to his promoter Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions. (More to come)