WBC lightweight champion Valero held on suspicion of killing wife

CARACAS, Venezuela - Lightweight champion Edwin Valero was detained yesterday on suspicion of killing his wife, the gravest in a string of problems that have threatened to derail his career.

Venezuelan Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores said Valero was arrested after police found the body of his 20-year-old wife in a hotel in Valencia. Valero left the hotel room around dawn yesterday and allegedly told security that he had killed Jennifer Viera, Flores said.

Flores told state television that police found three stab wounds on Viera's body. He said Valero was transferred to a local police precinct, "where we are headed to take samples needed for the investigation of the case," and to question the boxer.

Valero's lawyer, Milda Mora, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

The 28-year-old fighter is a household name in Venezuela and he has a huge image of President Hugo Chavez tattooed on his chest, along with the country's yellow, blue and red flag.

His all-action style and 27-0 record - all by knockouts - earned him a reputation as a tough, explosive crowd-pleaser. Venezuelans call him "Inca," alluding to an Indian warrior, while elsewhere he has been called "Dinamita," or dynamite.

His promoter, Top Rank, had just learned about the incident and said Valero was not scheduled to fight any time soon. He had been having difficulty obtaining a visa to fight in the United States, basically ruling him out of the most lucrative opportunities.

"He is not scheduled for Top Rank in any fight," spokesman Lee Samuels said. "He couldn't come to the U.S. He did fight in Mexico his last fight."

Also a former WBA super featherweight champion, Valero has been in trouble with the law before.

Last month, Valero was brought up on charges of harassing his wife and threatening medical personnel who treated her at a hospital in the western city of Merida. Police arrested Valero following an argument with a doctor and nurse at the hospital, where his wife was being treated for a series of injuries, including a punctured lung and broken ribs.

Valero entered a Venezuelan rehab center March 28 for treatment of drug and alcohol addiction, Mora said at the time. The boxer's attorney said Viera was injured when she fell down a flight of stairs at the couple's home while checking a water tank on the roof.

The Venezuela daily El Universal also reported that Valero had been arrested recently after a neighbor called authorities and claimed the boxer struck his own mother and a sister.

"I've never hit my little sister and much less my mother," Valero responded at the time, in comments published by Venezuelan television station RCTV's Web site.