Edwin Valero holds the World Boxing Association’s lightweight championship title and is one of the most exciting fighters in the world. He’s also been unable to fight in Las Vegas, the so-called boxing capital of the world, because of a 37-year-old Nevada Athletic Commission regulation that prohibits anyone who ever had a cerebral hemorrhage from competing in the state.
On Wednesday, though, the commission will hear a recommendation from neurosurgeon Albert Capanna, the chairman of its medical advisory board, to lift that prohibition. That could be the first step in allowing Valero to be licensed in Nevada – and could lead to a Nov. 14 fight against Humberto Soto on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Valero fractured his skull in a February 2001 motorcycle accident in which he wasn’t wearing a helmet. He turned pro as a boxer in 2002 and has fought without incident since.
However, Valero was suspended medically by the New York Athletic Commission in 2004 after concerns were raised about the results of a prefight MRI of his brain. Texas licensed him and he fought there successfully earlier this year.
He is ineligible to fight in Nevada because of the 1972 regulation. But because medical techniques have improved dramatically, the commission’s medical advisory board felt there was no need for an absolute ban on someone who’d ever had a hemorrhage.
If the regulation is passed, the commission would review things such as the extent of the hemorrhage, how long ago it occurred and how it occurred in determining whether to license a fighter.
Commission executive director Keith Kizer, who does not have a vote, said it’s probably unlikely that anyone who had ever had a hemorrhage from a fight would be licensed, but that would be up to the five-person board.
In situations like Valero’s, in which he was injured after being ejected form his motorcycle, an argument could be made that the impact from a vehicular accident would be much greater than anything that could occur in a prizefight.
Valero will have to undergo testing and appear before the commission even if the regulation is passed on Wednesday. But the hearing is the first step toward having one of the world’s most exciting fighters display his talents in the town that likes to bill itself as the boxing capital of the world.
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