EDWIN VALERO TKO end of 9 ANTONIO DeMARCO

You know those boxing skills that Edwin Valero wasn’t supposed to have? Well, he showed them on Saturday night as he outboxed, outfought and finally overpowered a game and durable Antonio DeMarco in their lightweight title bout in Mexico.

We all knew that the WBC champion from Venezuela was a powerful fighter, with 26 consecutive stoppage wins. He had seemed to be getting away from technical refinements, however, as he rolled over opponent after opponent.

On Saturday, though, Valero showed that he can box, move and put punches together in a fluid fashion. He hit DeMarco and then moved around him in, it must be noted, the Manny Pacquiao manner.

I thought that DeMarco put up an admirable challenge in the all-southpaw fight. He scored with some stiff right jabs and left hands through the middle, and he was dangerous with the right hook.

Hopes must have been raised in DeMarco’s camp when Valero was bloodied early — a slight cut on the right cheek in the opening round, a nick over the right eye and of course the ugly, blood-gushing cut on the right temple after contact with DeMarco’s elbow in round two.

Valero never wavered, though. He showed the heart and soul of a true fighter. The WBC champion just kept fighting, moving in, jabbing, letting his hands go in quick bursts.

DeMarco was right in the fight in those early rounds, and he even looked the bigger puncher when a left hand sent Valero’s gum shield flying out of his mouth in the second round.

Gradually, though, he was being broken down although Showtime commentator felt that DeMarco had Valero just where he wanted him.

“DeMarco gets better as the fight goes on — and that is the strategy,” Gus informed analyst Al Bernstein at the end of the fourth round. “I don’t think Valero has hurt him a bit, I think he’s walked through it, in my opinion, Al, and he’s setting him up to make a serious run as this fight goes on.”

Al, meanwhile, was seeing a different fight. “One of the things Edwin Valero’s done better than I think some might expect — when you watch him on tape, sometimes you don’t see all the skills — he’s not a bad defensive fighter, and I’m going to tell you something else, he punches in combination better than you would think,” was Al’s take, a view of events that was much more in line with the fight I was watching.

DeMarco remained stubborn and stoic, but the resistance was being beaten out of him, and Valero was doing it with science. Although the crowd roared hopefully, quite a number of DeMarco’s left-hand shots weren’t quite making contact as Valero coolly stepped away or pulled his head out of range, while it must have discouraged DeMarco the way that Valero came back with his fists pumping every time the Mexican fighter landed a solid shot.

By the eighth DeMarco looked tired and confused. Valero’s attacks were coming in waves, and the Venezuelan fighter was mixing up his punches, body and head — the left-hand drives downstairs must surely have been taking something out of DeMarco.

I thought that DeMarco could have been spared a needless three minutes of punishment in the ninth — the WBC’s open scoring system had let us all know that Valero was far in front — and I was relieved when the Mexican corner signalled surrender at the round’s completion. They realised there was no point in letting a game young man get beaten up in a lost cause. DeMarco lost with dignity. He is only 24, and he can come again.

Valero, meanwhile, showed that he deserves to be considered an elite fighter and it is a pity that he cannot box in the U.S. for legal reasons. He was an international-class amateur (he boxed in the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in 2000), and always maintained that, despite a slugger image, he could show boxing skills whenever he chose to do so. On Saturday night, Valero showed those skills in a way that might have silenced the sceptics.

Panamanian reader Carlos Costa emailed to say he didn’t agree with a passage in the fight preview that his compatriots showed hostility towards Valero when the Venezuelan fighter stopped Vicente Mosquera in 2006.

“When Valero left he was happy of his staying here and he fought here more than one time and has fought more than one Panamanian opponent,” Costa said. “We welcomed him to fight in Panama when he could not fight in other countries, and he has friends in Panama as well.”

I seem to recall the crowd showering the ring with debris in that fight. Perhaps I was misinterpreting what I saw — and of course sometimes the minority can spoil things for the majority — but I am glad to be assured that in Panama the visiting fighter will always be welcomed in a sporting fashion.