“Lightning” Lee Murray – The Man Who Almost Had It All

Lee Murray stands above Anderson Silva in London

I first heard of this individual while training in a famous Las Vegas MMA gym in 2009. I had just bumped into Nate and Nick Diaz in the Miracle Mile Shops in between training sessions. Later that day I was sharing my excitement with my coach where I naïvely made the claim that the Stockton duo were the biggest gangsters in MMA…how very, very (I can’t emphasise enough) very wrong I was. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, “Lightning” Lee Murray.

Murray entering the octagon dressed as Hannibal Lecter

Early Years

He was born Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani on 12 November 1977 in Greenwich, London to an English mother and a Moroccan father. Before Lee’s time, the Murray family were relocated following the destruction of their inner city London home in World War II. The Murrays were located, interestingly, near Shooter’s Hill – an area notorious for highway robberies and a breeding ground for professional criminals, especially armed robbers. This had no impact on Lee’s life whatsoever. The end.

Lee’s father, Brahim, decided to stay abroad for the first 7 years of his life – if he only decided to stay away forever, we would probably have a Lee Murray that gets on a tube every morning with a fresh coffee, dressed in a freshly pressed suit on the way to an office job in Canary Wharf…but where’s the fun in that? Brahim, the alcoholic father, beat the living sh*t out of Lee for years. Lee’s best friend, Paul “The Enforcer” Allen, once described Brahim as “a frightening, violent man” who was “volatile and domineering.” I’m sure that you will agree that carries a lot of weight when you hear it from a man nicknamed “The Enforcer”. One day Brahim punched Lee, as was his routine, when Lee finally saw red and knocked him out cold. That moment was a turning point Lee’s life. This was a real life monster for him as a child – the terrifying grown up that he lived in fear of for year. Now he realised that he finally had the power to stop it, like the flick of a switch. Lee’s neighbour heard that this happened and noticed a significant change in his demeanour immediately after stating (in a cockney accent), “once he realised he could take down a big man like that I think that’s what changed Lee into the man he is now – a thug.”

“The gangs filled a void in society, and the void was the absence of family life. The gang became a family.” – Drexel Deal

Let’s do a quick checklist to see if we have the ingredients to make a teenage gangster:

• Living in a council estate known as a breeding ground for professional criminals: ✔
• Alcoholic parent that beats him for years: ✔
• Best friend called “The Enforcer”: ✔

OK we’re good. Perhaps even more tragic than Lee actually joining a gang is the unfortunate name of the gang – “The Buttmarsh Boys”. I know what you’re thinking, these guys are walking around central London in bottomless chaps with switchblades, peacocking for a fight, but you’re wrong – the area was called Buttmarsh. Moving on, Lee and his right hand man, Paul Allen got involved in the drugs game. Weed to coke to crack, wherever the money was at, there they were. He quickly became well known as a violent criminal who had no fear of letting his hands go. Lee himself stated, as bullies often tend to do, “some people would probably say I was a bully, but a bully to me is someone that goes for easy targets and people who can’t fight back. Me, I went for all targets.” As if he should be patted on the back for being a hero of some sort. Fearless and ambitious, Murray swiftly made his way through the London criminal hierarchy. He was earning a lot of money and wasn’t afraid to show it. He started to wear mink coats like his American gangster idols and drove around in a flashy yellow Ferrari.

“He’s a scary son of a b**ch, and I don’t mean fighter wise,” Dana White

Lee Murray was 6’3″ and had world class knockout power

When many of his gang associates got ‘nicked’, Murray decided to try his hand at dishing out beatings in a more legal fashion. In his MMA debut, he knocked out Rod Hudson in the first round, earning him the nickname “Lightning”.  He had a successful start with three first round victories and even moved to the US to train with famous coach and former UFC Welterweight Champion, Pat Miletich. He trained with some big names at the time and they took notice of the man in their presence. Former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler said that when he punched the mitts everyone would stop training and look because it sounded like gunshots.

In 2004, a week away from a fight, Murray was watching a Prince Naseem fight in a pub and some innocent fool decided to stand in front of Murray and refused to move. Murray knocked him unconscious. Then he knocked the man’s friend unconscious. And to tie it all up in a neat little bow, he knocked the bartender unconscious. He broke his hand in two places. When most normal people would pull out of the fight, Murray just decided to wrap his hand up. He won by submission in the first round.

But at a time where I for once wish everyone had a camera phone, Murray shot to fame when he sparked out the then UFC Light Heavyweight World Champion – Tito Ortiz- in a street fight outside a London nightclub. Post UFC 38 in London in July 2002, Murray was with his coach Miletich when one of Tito’s friends, Bowe, jokingly grabbed Miletich in a rear naked choke. One of Miletich’s other students, Tony Fryklund, pulled Bowe off and confronted him verbally but before Bowe could explain that he was joking, in flew Paul “The Enforcer” Allen with a running start, blasting Bowe with a right hand, levelling him. In the blink of an eye, there was an eruption of professional MMA fighters beating the crap out of each other on the street. Not just any MMA fighters, UFC Hall of Famers – Matt Hughes was swinging and even “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell knocked three people out. But they were all side notes because the UFC champion and face of the UFC, Tito Ortiz, threw a punch at Murray. Murray slipped out of the way and according to Matt Hughes and Miletich, hit Tito with five hard, loud punches causing Tito to fall flat on his face and then Murray proceeded to kick him in the head with his steel-toecap boots before Miletich pulled him off. You would think that beating someone to a pulp would get Lee in trouble, oh contraire mon frère, this got him a UFC contract.

Tito Ortiz – Murray became his nemesis after the infamous brawl

In 2004, he won his UFC debut in the first round by submission. Tito sat cage-side, salivating at the idea of getting revenge on his new foe. But that dream was short-lived. Murray’s contract with the UFC was terminated due to Visa complications. It’s a lovely story really. Christmas Day, 2003, Murray was driving with his pregnant wife and young daughter when his car was hit by a Range Rover. According to Lee’s solicitor, “Lee disabled the vehicle, then disabled the driver.” And that’s exactly what he did.

Lee had one more fight in Wembley against arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Anderson “The Spider” Silva. Honestly, I have even more respect for Anderson after watching this fight and the build-up because he knew Lee’s reputation and he never backed down. He beat the crap out of Lee for three rounds and if you want to hear the most hilariously biased commentating from scared British commentators, then give the fight a watch on YouTube. Although it was Anderson who became the Cage Rage Champion on the night, respect for Murray for going the distance with the GOAT-that’s no joke.

Lee Murray in his fight with the great Anderson “The Spider” Silva

Cut from a different cloth

I’m not anything like Lee Murray and I would hope at this point you’re thinking the same thing. If you’re unsure, let me ask you this question – if you got stabbed and your nipple was slashed off in the process, and you were training for a fight in Wembley, would you go out to another party the following week in the same location and get in another fight? Well on September 28 2005, Lee did exactly that and got stabbed in the head and in the heart for his troubles. He actually died three times on the operating table. Do you know anyone who has died three times? Jesus only died once or twice (I’m not sure; I think he just floated off the second time). To quote Lee himself from an interview that he had with MMAWeekly.com, “I got stabbed in the head first. I thought it was a punch. When I felt the blood coming down my face, I just wiped the blood and just continued to fight. Next, I looked down at my chest and blood was literally shooting out of my chest. I looked down, and I knew I had been stabbed in the heart by the way the flow of the blood was coming out of my chest. It was literally flying out of my chest like a yard in-front of me.”

Bank Heist

And now…the real juicy stuff. The stuff that doesn’t just separate you and I from this psychopath, this stuff puts Lee Murray in a category differentiates him from every human being in the history of the planet. A few months after he died multiple times, he decided to carry out the largest bank robbery in the history of the world. I sh*t you not. The largest bank heist in the history of the world.

On 21 February 2006, a Securitas Depot manager named Colin Dickson was pulled over by police for speeding on his way home from work. He was cuffed and put into the back of the squad car. Then another police officer carrying a gun appeared, tied up his legs and blindfolded him. Except as Colin soon found out, they were not really police officers. The mystery men took him to a remote farm in Kent. Two other accomplices, also dressed as police and disguised by a professional makeup artist, went to Dickinson’s home and broke the news t his wife and child that he had been in a road traffic collision and that she should go with them. Before his family know it, they were all tied up in the back of a van and en route to Kent to be kept as hostages with Colin. When the time came, Colin and the family were taken to the Depot by the kidnappers.

Murray and his crew entering the depot disguised in police uniforms and in balaclavas. Credit: http://www.thesun.ie

This heist had been in the pipeline for quite some time, and groundwork had been done. In the weeks building up to it Ermir Hysenaj, an Albanian immigrant, was sent in to get a job in the Depot by Lee. After a ten minute interview he was in. He used this opportunity to scope the place out with a hidden camera on his belt so they knew exactly where the cash was kept. Using this knowledge and Colin as their means in, Lee & co. entered looking like legitimate police officers and took other employees hostage. This was a legitimate organised robbery. They were armed to the teeth with AK-47s and moved with military precision towards the vault. They backed a large truck up to the loading dock and proceeded to fill it with stacks of cash. The only reason they stopped piling cash onto the truck is because there was no room left in the truck! They left with £53 million or $92 million. Apparently they could have taken four times the amount if they had more trucks.

The gang loading cages filled with £10 and £20 notes to the sum of £53 million

Lee fled to Morocco. Within ten days of the robbery, five people were charged and millions of pounds recovered. Although Lee was the incredible mastermind behind this robbery, he stupidly stitched himself up.  Just days before the bank job, he crashed his yellow Ferrari and left his mobile phone inside. Unbelievably, he had a recording of a phone-call conversation on his phone where he talked about the bank robbery. Luckily, the understated, cautious individual that Lee was, he was already in Morocco keeping his head down. I’m lying. He was driving around in expensive gold cars, bought a million pound mansion, had a mural of his UFC win on the wall, had a statue of himself commissioned and infamously paid for boob jobs for loads of prostitutes.

While Lee was living the high life in Morocco, the UK government were going nuts back home. There was no treaty between the UK and Morocco, and Murray claimed his Moroccan citizenship so they couldn’t get him back to prosecute him. The government was so keen to get their hands on Lee they even offered to trade a terrorist to get him back on home soil. In the meantime back in Morocco, Lee was caught with some cocaine and weed. Police in Morocco try to arrest him, which resulted in Lee promptly sparking a few of them out. He then spent a few months in Moroccan prison but our friend Lee, the glutton for punishment that he is, got caught with a laptop with internet and five kilos of cocaine in his cell. He was sentenced to 7 years.

The mural that Lee had commissioned. It looks like he painted it himself. Credit: http://www.thesun.ie

On the day of his release, Lee was promptly re-arrested because the Brits had agreed to have him tried in Morocco. He got 10 years. Not bad considering he doesn’t have to pay back the debt. Paul Allen AKA “The Enforcer”, his accomplice, was released in 2015 after serving half of his time in the UK. He paid back £420 and said he couldn’t pay any more – even though he was seen driving a convertible Mercedes and had a Rolex forth £45,000. Murray challenged his sentence but the funny thing in Morocco is that your sentence might be reduced but it might also increase. Murray ended up getting 25 years instead of 10.

Paul “The Enforcer” Allen (left) with Lee Murray (right) in Morocco

Don’t worry though he’s still keeping us entertained from his rodent-infested cell. He’s still challenging MMA fighters – not sure what his plan is there. He tried to escape with tiny saws hidden in biscuits in 2009 but another prisoner ratted him out. I’m sure they’re friends now though. He also fathered a child while incarcerated. There’s still over £30 million unaccounted for. One thing is for sure, this story isn’t over.

“Lightning” Lee Murray

Record: 8W(4KOs, 4S), 2L(1S), 1D, 1NC

Years active: 1999-2004 

Edwin Valero – The twisted tale of the most dangerous boxer of all time

“I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

Born in Venezuela on December 3rd 1981, this pugilist had a flawless final professional record of 27 wins with 0 losses. But what’s more astonishing is that all of these wins came by way of knockout. He became a world champion in two weight classes. Not only that, he knocked out his first 18 opponents in the first round, a feat so unprecedented he broke the Guinness World Record in doing so. To have knockout power like that as a featherweight and later as a lightweight is unheard of and it is unlikely that we will ever see the likes of it again in our lifetime. But what gives a man the ability to be that ferocious in the ring? And does it come with a price? Strap in because this is a skull crushing, pedal-to-the-metal tale of the most dangerous man to ever lace up a pair of boxing gloves… Edwin ‘El Inca Dinamita’ Valero.

The first high

When Edwin’s father abandoned the family at the tender age of 9, he immediately stopped going to school and joined a local motorcycle gang. Not your typical segue I know, but Venezuela in the early ‘90s and even today is a very dangerous country with a homicide rate just shy of a warzone. It is here that nature met nurture and a monster was born. Rumours have it that a rival thief once stole a motorcycle from Edwin’s gang. Upon hearing about it, a barely-teenage Valero got revenge by shooting him in the head, adding to the already globally recognised murder statistics of a troubled nation. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul; Edwin’s piercing black eyes would only

 grow dimmer as he fed his inner demons throughout his lifetime.

Valero was known for his relentless aggressionin training

It was at this time between the ages of 9 and 15 where ‘El Inca’ developed an insatiable thirst for alcohol and cocaine that would fuel his unrivalled fury for almost two decades.

Young love

By the age of 12, Edwin was homeless, in a gang and on cocaine. In dire need of money, he started working in a local bike shop. The owner recognised that this young boy had a cold fire burning inside him and suggested that he join his boxing club; an invitation that would change the life of Edwin and anyone who was unfortunate enough to come across him.

He was a natural talent accumulating an astonishing amateur record of 86 wins and just 6 losses. However the statistic that has everyone scratching their heads is that 57 of these wins were by way of knockout. Now, if you are unfamiliar to amateur boxing let me give you a better insight into this mind-boggling statistic. Knockouts in amateur boxing are rare. This is because the gloves are heavily cushioned around the fists – which often don’t allow the boxer to make a tight fist, unlike the professional gloves. Amateur fighters wear headgear – which doesn’t stop you getting brain damage but does allow you to make a very tight defensive guard with your large cushioned gloves, making it difficult for your opponent to score a clean shot. Finally, and probably most importantly, featherweight kids do not score knockouts! At least, it is extremely rare for them to do so. Knockouts in amateur boxing are more commonly seen in the heavier weight divisions. As a result, Edwin was a standout fighter with dynamite in his hands, just as his nickname suggests. He would later make the chilling statement, “I like to break the face of the person in front of me”.

However, there was a softer side to Edwin when, at the age of 17, he spotted a young Jennifer Carolina Viera Finol, a pretty 13 year old whose aunt lived near the boxing gym. He quickly became obsessed, saying that he would make her his wife one day. They would later tie the knot, but when Jennifer was just 14, she had agreed to live with Edwin in Tovar, 26 miles west of Caracas. At the time it seemed romantic to those who knew them. She would stay by his side throughout his life and play an important role in his legacy.

MONTERREY, MEXICO – FEBRUARY 06: Jennifer Carolina Viera de Valero, wife of Edwin Valero, watching the fight at Arena Monterrey. (Photo by Armando Marin/Jam Media/LatinContent via Getty Images)

Although he made time to win over Jennifer, Edwin’s focus on boxing was not interrupted. He would cement his reputation as a skilled pugilist by going on to win three consecutive national titles from the age of 15. He even journeyed to Argentina at 18 in 2000 to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, however he lost on points to Brazil’s Valdemir Pereira. The journey home would add insult to injury; upon taking the wrong bus Valero found himself robbed at gunpoint – they took his money, his passport and even his silver medal.

Despite this setback, he went on to win the 2000 Central America and Caribbean Championship in Caracas, defeating Francisco Bojado for the gold medal. Bojado would go on to represent Mexico in the Sydney Olympics. Bojado’s trainer, Joe Hernandez, would state in the years after the bout “He was…a monster”.

On a one-way trip

With punching power and ferocity unlike any other prospect, it was clear that Valero’s style was suited for the paid ranks. Although the money has always predominantly been in the heavyweight division, fighters like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and a new rising star, Manny Pacquiao were featherweights that were now appearing in the Las Vegas lights. It was a no-brainer that Valero would join them.

However, on February 5, 2001, as if Edwin was Sisyphus and was sentenced to an eternity of brain damage, he was in a terrible motorcycle accident. While speeding at 80kph to get to his father, who had been in a car accident himself, Valero hit a parked car and torpedoed into the air, landing 20 feet away. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

He spent 13 days in hospital. He had a fractured skull and doctors found a small blood clot between his scalp and skull – not on his brain. He opted for a minor surgery where the clot was drained so that he could get back to boxing quicker. He was 19 years old.

Line them up

While such an accident would have spelled the end of most professional boxing dreams, not so for Edwin Valero. He was determined to step in the ring again, but in the meantime enrolled in the army to support his family. However, without a designated place to put his rage, it seeped into other facets of his life. After two busts for fighting, he was dishonourably discharged. “I like to hit men,” Valero said years later. “It liberates me.”

17 months after the accident, Valero made his professional boxing debut in Caracas, Venezuela. It took him just two minutes and two seconds to knock his opponent, Eduardo Hernandez, unconscious. Hernandez would never step foot in the ring again.

Styles make fights

By the end of 2002, Valero had 5 consecutive first round knockouts. His skillset didn’t vary much. He would throw his right jab from his long southpaw stance with laser-like precision as if he were a fencer. Unique about Valero is that when he decided not to jab, he instead reached out and pulled down his opponents lead hand, leaving them defenceless. He then followed up by a badly-intentioned backhand, with his head positioned defensively off the centre-line before he would uncoil back and upright with a right hook that would snap the life out of his opponent’s body. His mouth would hang open as he would shout like a man possessed with each shot. Sometimes his dance-partners would stay standing, which often lead to a more devastating conclusion as a frenzied blitz of punches would crash towards them as if it was a punishment for trying to last three minutes with him.

Above: Valero V DeMarco 2010

The Inca Warrior to Gym Warrior

‘El Inca’s’ reputation would soon make waves in the boxing world and he was invited to Los Angles in preparation for his American pro debut. Joe Hernandez, as mentioned earlier, agreed to assist with the transition. He recalls that nobody could last two rounds with him, even with 16oz gloves and headgear.

In the years to come, Valero would become a legend in different gyms. He would travel from gym to gym in LA punching the daylights out of any man that was willing to share the ring with him. It was reminiscent of when he used to roam the streets in Venezuela challenging men to a fist fight. The current multiple weight division boxing star, Mikey Garcia, has always claimed time and time again that Valero was the toughest spar that he ever had. He said that he used to punch his opponent’s forearms until they couldn’t defend themselves and then would hit them harder than they have ever been hit before.

Just 12 months into his pro career, Valero was called to spar the first Mexican four weight division champion in Érik ‘El Terrible’ Morales. The sparring footage can still be seen online. Each punch landing sounded like a clap of thunder. He made easy work of the boxing veteran and now his name was spreading like wildfire. Morales was training for his upcoming fight with Pacquiao so ‘El Inca’ was already being sized up as a future opponent with ‘Pacman’. One onlooker, Brian Harty of Maxboxing.com would say in complete dismay, “I don’t know how a person is able to summon punch after punch with such aggression like he did, though. Whatever was driving him was right below the surface for him to tap into.” Doug Fischer would describe Valero’s athletic ability in an ESPN.com column as ‘perfection’. Claiming that the only two fighters to come close to what he witnessed were Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather in their prime.

St. Louis cruiserweight Ryan Coyne recalled watching Valero spar when they were in camps together. “He’d make them cry,” Coyne said. “I’m not exaggerating. Grown men – Professional fighters – would cry.”

The most notorious of Valero’s spars came when he was called to spar The Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya for his preparation to fight Manny Pacquiao. After just two days, Edwin was sent home. De La Hoya’s brother famously screamed at Valero’s coach, “Kenny, get this monster out of here.”

Fuelling the demons

Edwin’s differences in the boxing sphere didn’t end with his unique punching power; for his entire career he never stopped drinking or taking cocaine. That’s right, the first round knockouts and sparring demolitions all came from a brain damaged, 5’7”, alcohol and cocaine fiend. The aforementioned Coyne would call him “otherworldly” and a “world champion drinker”. “I thought there was something unreal about Edwin. The way he’d drink all night, and then come in and train; it’s like he’s possessed by a devil. I don’t want to sound like I’m demonising him, because I don’t mean it that way. I’m not religious, really. I know how weird this sounds, but sometimes I’d watch him and think humans couldn’t be that way. There was something supernatural.”

Believe it or not, there were reports that Valero met his equal. That equal came in the form of a psychotic Mexican boxing star, Daniel Ponce de Leon. They were stablemates. They were wild men to begin with but when alcohol was added, forget comparing it to adding tinder to a fire; it was more like launching a grenade at a petrol station. Doug Fischer once recalled the two getting into a particularly nasty brawl with each other in a Dallas hotel lobby. “There were chairs turned over and blood everywhere,” Fischer said. Fischer even goes on to say that “de Leon bit off a piece of Valero’s ear”. Apparently that’s why Valero started growing his hair out.

Above: Ponce de Leon post fight

Matter over mind

In terms of boxing, everything was going in the right direction for Valero. He was now 12-0 with 12 KOs in the first round and signed to Golden Boy Promotions. The excitement came to an end in January 2004 when the New York State Athletic Commission revealed a tiny blemish on Valero’s brain. They denied him a boxing licence and now he was no longer permitted to fight in the US. His American dream was over.

Valero was furious, claiming that it was all due to political reasons because of his ties with dictator, Hugo Chavez. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that this played a role in him losing his licence. However, by this point it would have been more advisable for Valero to be confined to a cage rather than a boxing ring…and I’m not talking an octagon. Not convinced yet? Bear with me.

Medical experts advised Valero to hang up the gloves for good. Did that stop him? Hell no. His first stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s a short stop as he continued his first round knockout streak. In April 2005, Golden Boy dropped Valero from the roster.

Valero continued as a world traveller, eventually signing with a Japanese promotional company. He would continue his first round knockout streak to 18, earning him the Guinness World Record.

The broken crown

His first world title didn’t come as easy as his previous victories. It was against a tough Panamanian man Vicente Mosquera in his own back yard in Panama City. Both fighters were dropped but in round 10, Mosquera’s corner had seen him take enough punishment and stopped the fight.

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Later, it would come to light that there was a loophole surrounding Valero’s American boxing suspension. Good ole Texas granted him a licence and before you could feed your husband to a tiger, he was back playing Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Brain Cells in the US of A. The silver-haired sly fox Bob Arum was quick to sign him up, eager to match the KO king with superstar Manny Pacquiao in what would have been a PPV blockbuster.

One request made by the Texas boxing commission was for Valero to not wear an image of Chavez on his boxing shorts – this was because Chavez continuously mocked America during his presidency. Valero agreed…but then wore head to toe Venezuela colours, including his gum shield, topping it off with a giant tattoo of Chavez on his chest.

Above: Valero in Texas

Valero’s US return was against a durable Antonio Pitalua with a record of 47W (41KOs) 3L(1KO). His fight with Pituala can only be considered an assault. Pituala hit him a good shot with two seconds to go at the end of round one and you could see Valero was visibly annoyed that he couldn’t hit him after the bell. He carried that anger with him and hit Pitalua with a violent backhand front hook just seven seconds into round two – smashing Pituala’s face and sent him crashing to the canvas. Violent flurries knocked him twice more, finishing him off in just fourty-nine seconds into round two. He was now a two weight world champion.

The excitement was short lived though. Soon after his fight, Valero was pulled over for driving while drunk and carrying an unlicensed firearm. Valero could no longer get a visa for the US and again blamed it on political motives. Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten that Chavez tattoo…

Edwin moved back to Venezuela and appeared as a hero on Chavez’s television show, Hello President. He would go on to defend his title twice more. His last fight was against Antonio DeMarco 23W(17KOs) 1L on 6^th of February 2010. DeMarco retired on his stool after round nine.  This was hailed as Valero’s greatest performance.

Above: Valero pictured in his last fight against Antonio DeMarco, 2010

“To love is to destroy and that to be loved is to be destroyed” – Cassandra Clare

The real tragedy here is not that of Edwin’s own downfall. Nor is it that of the fans missing out on enormous blockbuster showdowns with the likes of Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather. It is the tragedy of the death of Jennifer Carolina Viera Finol, and the destruction of the lives of Edwin Valero Jr. and Jennifer Roselyne Valero.

As a clear image of the type of man Valero was emerges, stop and take a second to think what it must be like for a young girl to grow up with a stone-fisted, brain damaged, coke-fuelled maniac who was friends with the dictator of their crime-ridden home country. As I said at the start, this one does not end well. Cocaine made Valero paranoid and his jealousy always centred on his precious wife. He would go crazy if a family member would say hello or kiss the cheek of his wife. At one point she suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. It allegedly was a shot fired by a gang member, however many believe that Valero’s delusional psychotropic excuses wouldn’t last daylight if it happened outside of Venezuela.

After the DeMarco win, Valero went on cocaine and alcohol binge. On March 20^th, a few weeks after, Jennifer was admitted the University Hospital of Los Andes, the same hospital where she was previously treated for a mysterious gunshot wound. This time she had two fractured ribs, perforation of the pleural membrane of both lungs, bruises on the thorax and a deep bite mark on her back – the poor woman. Several family members followed her to the hospital, including Edwin. When the car stopped at a red light en route, Edwin said he had to make a call, jumped out and ran off. The family continued on. Edwin turned up at the hospital five days later and began threatening hospital staff who were treating Jennifer. He approached her, held his finger to his eyebrow, miming a gun and started shouting something in Japanese. The deranged lunatic even tried to fight the police who arrived to arrest him.

Three days later he was taken to court. A clearly terrified Jennifer denied that Valero had anything to do with her injuries and family members confirmed an obviously made up story about her falling down a stairs and a random woman biting her back. The court ordered that Valero be admitted to the San Juan do Dios Psychiatric hospital for six months of treatment and observation. He was also ordered to undergo sensitivity training at the Merideno Institute for Women and the Family. In the meantime, Valerio was to remain in police custody and to stay away from Jennifer. Edwin and Jennifer left the court together. They held hands.

Once admitted to hospital, the psychiatrist who diagnosed Valero noted “there was a daily frequency for the consumption of cocaine and alcohol in variable quantities greater than ten grams.” Valero was discharged after just three days because they stated that his pathology was of the sort that they couldn’t “take care of him there” and it was arranged that he go to Cuba to get help. While in the custody of guards to escort him to the airport, Valero decided that he wasn’t going, so he punched the officers unconscious, took their car and sped away. Despite being so drunk he repeatedly crashed his getaway car, he successfully escaped. He filled his pockets with cash, bought more cocaine, rented a Toyota Land Cruiser and went to convince Jennifer to join him on the run. Perhaps there was an element of Stockholm syndrome here or maybe it was outright fear but she packed her bags and off they went. Valero by this point wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping, was under huge emotional stress and was filled to the brim with drugs and alcohol; it was a recipe for disaster.

At 11:39pm Edwin and Jennifer checked into The Hotel Intercontinental overlooking Valencia. Before going into their room, Valero’s paranoia flared up once more when he asked the hotel security to check under the beds and closet to make sure that nobody was there before they entered.

At 5:30am the next morning, Valero approached the front desk covered in blood and calmly announced that he had killed his wife. She was 24 years old.

Police were called and he was taken into custody. Two days later, Edwin Valero was found hanging by his tracksuit bottoms in his jail cell. He was 28 years old.

“The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein

Edwin ‘El Inca Dinamita’ Valero

Professional Record: 27W(27KOs) 0L

Years active: 2002 – 2010

To read more about the life of Edwin Valero, click the link below to buy Bersek by Don Stradley

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“Generally speaking the way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death” – Miyamoto Musashi