By Dan Ambrose: Tomorrow night, we may be witnessing history and seeing Evander Holyfield’s (42-9-2, 27 KOs) last fight of his career should he lose to Nikolay Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs) in their 12-round WBA title bout in Switzerland. Holyfield, a ripe-looking 46, has probably reached what appears to be the end of his career and will be hitting a wall in what’s left of his ability against the gigantic, 7′ foot Valuev, who clearly flawed as a fighter, is more than good enough to pummel slower, smaller opponents when the opportunity presents itself.
On Saturday, Valuev, 35, will have what appears to be the perfect opponent for him in the ancient Holyfield, who has left his prime behind in the rear view mirror a decade or more ago. It’s frankly tragic to see Holyfield, a fighter that was once swift and fast on his feet, reduced to plodding around the ring like a slow journeyman fighter, unable to pull the trigger and taking a lot of shots.
Holyfield, at one time, would have taken a fighter like Valuev apart probably in a few rounds, hitting him with powerful combinations and taking advantage of Valuev’s big lumbering swings. Indeed, this was the kind of fighter that Holyfield would have destroyed in a handful of rounds in his prime. However, that’s the problem with sticking around a little too long in the sport of boxing. If you stick around too long, as Holyfield clearly has, then you find yourself getting beaten by fighters like James Toney, Larry Donald, Chris Byrd, Sultan Ibragimov and Valuev, each of which Holyfield would have likely easily beaten in his prime.
Holyfield’s record in the past six years, a poor four wins and four losses, would seem to indicate that Holyfield is more than finished as fighter. The losses have all come against good fighters, but not exactly the type of fighters that Holyfield should be losing to if he had a shred of his former ability left. If he had anything left, those are fighters that Holyfield should have been able to beat, whether by a close decision or a knockout, because after all, Byrd, Toney, Donald, and Valuev, wouldn’t last for long against either of the two Klitschko brothers, who are both considered by many to be the top fighters in the division.
That’s the problem. Holyfield not only wants to beat Valuev and get his WBA title, but he also has a goal of collecting the other heavyweight titles as well, meaning that in order to do that, he’ll have to beat both Klitschko brothers. That leaves one with the impression that Holyfield is badly out of touch with reality, overestimating what’s left of his ability, and frankly being a tad too stubborn about looking at his career in an objective manner.
Sometimes a person has to face the facts about themselves. Hopefully, Holyfield can face the facts about himself should he lose to Valuev on Saturday night, because it’s high time that he move on to other endeavors and give boxing a rest.