Fans Bid Farewell to Boxer Valero

Weeping relatives and fans gathered around the coffin of former boxing champion Edwin Valero on Wednesday, mourning the troubled fighter who killed himself after slaying his wife.
Police say former boxing champ Edwin Valero has killed himself in his jail cell just hours after he was arrested in his wife's killing.

Hundreds in this small town in southwestern Venezuela attended the funeral Mass for a fighter who rose to international fame before quickly falling into disgrace. Many wiped tears from their faces during the ceremony. Fans, friends and family members later brought Valero's coffin to a gym where he once trained before his body was buried at a nearby cemetery.

Valero, famed for an impressive record of 27 straight knockouts and a huge tattoo of President Hugo Chavez on his chest, was arrested Sunday in the stabbing death of his 24-year-old wife. Police said the boxer hanged himself in his cell early Monday.

The killing, coupled with Valero's suicide, shocked many Venezuelans. Many have been asking what went wrong in his life and why authorities hadn't stepped in to protect his wife, Jennifer Carolina Viera, after numerous reports of domestic violence.
A boxer who was close to Valero, Jose Luis Varela, lamented that many of the fighter's friends didn't urge him to seek help to deal with what had become a serious drug and alcohol addiction.

"We didn't want to see that he had problems," Varela said.

During Wednesday's Mass, Priest Esteban Gudino told parishioners he hoped Valero "receives the mercy of our Lord."

"It's a tragedy for all of use when the life of a youngster ends like this," Gudino said from the church's pulpit. "Hopefully, this will serve others to emulate his positive side, and they'll distance themselves from drugs and alcohol."

The fighter's mother-in-law, Mary Finol, told reporters at her daughter's funeral Tuesday in El Vigia that Valero was addicted to cocaine and had grown increasingly violent before he was arrested for his wife's murder.

"We knew that he used cocaine beginning at 12 years of age," Finol said, adding that her daughter had told her that Valero "didn't sleep, didn't eat, got high everyday and was increasingly violent."

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