By Jim Dower: With his career on the line, former 4-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) weighed in at a svelte 214 for his heavyweight contest with World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs) on Saturday in Switzerland. The 7-foot Valuev, 35, came in slightly lighter than expected at a reasonably trim 310 (at least for him) pounds.
Holyfield, 46, has his back against the wall, as he continues with his almost hopeless quest to win a 5th heavyweight title. Most doubt it, predicting he’ll lose again, probably as bad as he did in his last fight against Sultan Ibragimov a year ago.
Many are hoping that Holyfield, if he loses the fight, finally decides to give up on his near hopeless quest for yet another title. Holyfield seems to be trying to send a message, trying to prove that his advanced age of 46 isn’t an indication that he’s an old fighter and he’s setting out to prove everyone wrong. The problem here, however, is that Holyfield may not fight like a typical 46-year-old fighter, but he’s not fighting all that good, either.
That’s not to take away anything from Holyfield’s excellent credentials, because few can forget his epic wars with Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Ray Mercer and Michael Moorer. Holyfield, in the prime of his career, was one of the toughest fighters that every laced them up. But that was long ago, a good 10+ years ago and he’s only a fraction of his former self now.
At times, Holyfield can reach back for some of his former greatness for a short bursts last 5-10 seconds, but following that, his body needs extended rest periods to recover from the offensive exertion and he does little in the remainder of the round.
Indeed, Holyfield at his age, seems to be only capable of fighting hard for 45 seconds to a minute of the round and spends the remainder of the time covering up. That’s probably not going to work against a fighter as big and as powerful as Valuev, who will be constantly coming forward all fight long, pressing the action against the much smaller Holyfield.
As for Valuev, he recently regained his WBA title in defeating John Ruiz for the second time, and putting him on path for a rematch with Ruslan Chagaev, the only fighter that has ever beaten him in his career. Valuev’s loss to Chagaev was quite controversial, as Chagaev landed few punches, mostly hitting Valuev on the gloves the entire fight and was out-landed throughout the fight.
A victory against Holyfield on Saturday night, will continue to Valuev on a collision course for a rematch with Chagaev in the future.
Holyfield, should he lose, has some big questions to ask himself, because it’s doubtful that he can dig himself out of the whole that another loss, which would be his second consecutive defeat, would put him in. Another defeat, and you can pretty much consider Holyfield done.
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