Читать книгу Berserk. The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero онлайн

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Urbano Antillon was a sturdy Mexican-American super-featherweight from Maywood. He sparred a few times with Valero, but he wasn't impressed. The next time they sparred, Valero hit him so hard that Antillon's head swiveled and his legs shuddered. The session was stopped.

Brian Harty was on hand to record some of Valero's workouts for Maxboxing.com. He recalls Valero as tireless, almost robotic. Valero might have cracked a joke in between workouts, but once he was focused, his concentration was unbreakable. “It's impossible to know if the way I describe him now is affected by what ultimately happened,” Harty said, “but there was just a constant buzz around him—and I mean like an electric buzz, like one of those bug zappers. I can't imagine him sleeping.”

Valero buzzed his way through a number of LA gyms, from the fancy ones with modern equipment to the ones where salsa music blared from the house speakers and old fight posters seemed stuck to the walls through sheer humidity. He was like a gunslinger walking into a new town. Nobody knew who he was. There were only whispers and rumors about this gym gypsy who knocked people around. He'd smash them on the arms, in the ribs. Sometimes he'd hit a guy a few times and the guy would simply quit. If someone stayed with him for a few rounds, Valero would playfully pat him on the shoulder at the end of the session.