Should Nikolay Valuev retire?
November 11th, 2009
By Jason Kim: After losing his World Boxing Association heavyweight title last Saturday night by a 12 round majority decision to David Haye, big Nikolay Valuev (50-2, 34 KO’s) finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to rebuild his career once again to try and claw his way back to another title shot against one of the champion.
Since there was no compu-box numbers of the bout, it’s unknown what the actual punch stats were. But one thing was certain, neither fighter threw more than a small amount of punches during the fight. Valuev tried, but Haye moved constantly and wasn’t interested staying stationary for a more than a second or two in every round.
The loss, close as it was, hurts none the less for Valuev, as it will take him time and hard work to get another title shot. If Valuev is interested in going after the WBA heavyweight title again, he’s going to have to get in line, fight some top contenders and wait around for Haye. The British fighter has a mandatory defense coming up in 2010 against mandatory challenger John Ruiz. Haye needs to fight him by May or risk being stripped of his title.
After that, if Haye is still champion, he wants to defend the title against one of the Klitschko brothers. If Haye can negotiate for the fight without backing out again like he did twice before, then we can expect with a high degree of certainty that the WBA title will be in the hands of one of the Klitschko brothers by the end of 2010. This actually may play into the hands of Valuev if he’s still fighting and hasn’t retired.
Of all the WBA contenders, Valuev is perhaps the most popular and a fight against either of the Klitschko brothers would be popular in Europe. It wouldn’t likely do well in the U.S., though, because neither the Klitschko brothers or Valuev are considered popular fighters to the boxing fans because of their dull style of fighting and their modest personalities. At the very least, Valuev will be looking at 2011 for his next title shot, unless either Vitali or Wladimir elect to fight him before that time.
One of them will be fighting Haye, while the other will be looking for an opponent. It would be best for Valuev if Wladimir chooses to fight Haye next, because Wladimir doesn’t have much wriggle room in his schedule because he needs to defend his IBF title against his number #1 mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin as soon as possible.
Vitali Klitschko is fighting Kevin Johnson next, and following that there could be a possibility for Vitali to defend his title against Valuev. Other than Haye, that would be Vitali’s best chance of getting a big payday. He’s not going to find one against any of the current top 15 contenders in the WBC that’s for sure.
Whether Valuev fights Haye again or one of the Klitschko brothers, his chances of success are low. Valuev looked slow and limited against Haye last Saturday. And against the Klitschko brothers, who wouldn’t be shy about throwing punches, Valuev would have little chance. The likely outcome against either of them would be an early knockout. If Valuev needs the money, then he should stick around but if he honestly believes he can beat the Klitschko brothers or even Haye, I think Valuev is deceiving himself. I think he can fight Haye closely, but I doubt he’ll do any better in a rematch.
Tags: 10 Responses to “Should Nikolay Valuev retire?”
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if valuev needs the money ok, otherwise i would take the money and run like a chicken. something like Haye is gonna do after the big payday.
nice guy actually but awful boxer i hope i neva have to watch him fight ever ever again. Haye HAD to win it really didnt he the heavyweight division couldnt go on like it was
If he fights Vitali at least we get to see someone over 7 feet tall get ko’d
The guys just big. He’s slow as hell and has a very limited skill set, and is lacking in power. Not trying to be mean but I watched him fight once and that was enough for me.
definatly valuev should go after the klitschkos. he’d be heavey under dog but it would be the only chance he gets. id love to see it just to se if the bros could KOhim. like ukandsoff said it would be interesting to watch if nothing else.
He definately needs to fight Vitali, that would be a great specticle. I would definately buy PPV for that. Vitali on points!
yes I agree totally
Whether Valuev should retire depends on his desire to continue in the boxing game – if he still has the fire in his belly a fight vs the Klitschko’s would be the way to go – they are the only real draws besides Haye currently and both would be much easier to hit than Haye – Valuev would still carry a healthy weight and height advantage but have an opportunity to get more shots off.
The interest and marketability with Valuev is his sheer size and he needs to play on that more – whether he has the capability and/or desire to do so remains to be seen.
Valuev is a big fat talentless lump of lard and disgrace to the heavyweight divison. David Haye is what the heavyweight division needs a real british champion not someone claiming to to be british who represented canada in the olympics and also has a canadian accent.
Valuev has 1 big option that nobody talks about. He can go chasing one of the Klitchkos like Haye did.
Problem solved, hes got himself a quick oppertunity to get his hands on another belt.
And dont say you wouldnt watch it, its sorta mouthwatering in a bland way. but youd watch it.