Abraham, Barrett, DeGale, Gavin & Warren pick Valuev to beat Haye – News

By William Mackay: Former David Haye opponent, Monte Barrett, is picking World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev to beat British heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) this Saturday night in their title fight in Nuremburg, Germany, according to Boxing News. Barrett, 38, has fought both Haye and Valuev, and has been stopped by both of them. However, he feels that the big 7-foot Valuev is the better fighter in this one. “I think Valuev will win the fight because he’s good at what he does,” Barrett says. What Valuev is good at is using his size and reach to pound away at his opponents from the outside.

Barrett perhaps has another reason why he feels that Valuev will beat Haye this Saturday night. Barrett says “It took him [Haye] 45 seconds to get up from that knockdown.” Barrett is referring to the left hand that he nailed Haye with in the 5th round of their fight in November. The punch caught Haye just as he was coming inside to try and land a shot of his own causing Haye to go down. The referee ruled it a slip, however. A fraction of a second after Haye went down, Barrett tagged Haye with a left to the head. Haye got to his feet after the knockdown but immediately went to one knee and stayed down for a considerable amount of time while the referee took a point away from Barrett for the late punch.

Barrett obviously feels that he had Haye hurt from the initial knockdown. It’s hard to say why Haye stayed down so long. He either was legitimately hurt by one of Barrett’s shots or Haye was trying to milk the occasion by making sure that the referee took a point off against Barrett. It didn’t look for Haye to stay down that long, though, because it made it seem as if he was really hurt by one of Barrett’s left hands. Barrett isn’t known for being a huge puncher, and this is worrisome that Haye needed to stay down for this long against a light hitter like Barrett.

“I don’t know if Valuev can stop David but I know he can win the fight,” Barrett says. Haye is a fighter that depends on getting knockouts to win his fights, whereas Valuev is more of case of a fighter who depends on his boxing skills to win most of his bouts.

In addition to Barrett thinking that Valuev will win, James DeGale, Frank Warren, Arthur Abraham, and Frankie Gavin also think that Valuev will come out victorious, according to the Sportinglife. The reasons for their decision to back Valuev is a combination of things related to Valuev’s big size and his stamina. Haye is seen to have a chin problem, lack of size and stamina issues. Promoter Frank Warren says “An old Evander Holyfield gave Valuev a lot of problems and a lot of people thought he won the fight. Holyfield has got a good chin though and David Haye hasn’t, in my opinion. I don’t think he’s [Haye] got great stamina either. He’s got to win that fight by boxing, not looking for big shots. Haye should beat him but I’m not a big fan of David Haye either. I’ve got to lean towards Valuev.”

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