Does Holyfield Need a Knockout To Defeat Valuev

By Boxing News - 12/20/2008 - Comments

holyfield5753By Dave Lahr: With the fight taking place in Switzerland, which is probably comparable to the fight being fought in Germany, does Evander Holyfield need a knockout to a get a win over the huge, mammoth-like WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev tonight? Barring a knockout by Holyfield, I really can’t see him getting a decision over there in Switzerland. Valuev, who fights all his bouts in Germany, will likely be considered the hometown fighter and because of that, it will take something really special, like either a knockout or multiple knockdowns, for Holyfield to get the victory. I wish it wasn’t so, but that’s what often happens when a fighter goes over there.

Holyfield, 46, probably has more than enough power to take Valuev out if he can connect with a good right hand right to the chin of Valuev. However, Holyfield, a good puncher but not the type that was blessed with Tyson or Foreman-like power. In the past, he usually took out his opponents with a combination of blows to the head.

I can’t see Holyfield landing enough punches in combination to take Valuev out, unfortunately, because he rarely puts his punches together nowadays. That’s why I feel that if Holyfield does have a chance at winning, he’s going to have to hit Valuev as hard as he can and hope that it’s hard enough to drop the giant.

Valuev’s chin isn’t unbreakable, because he’s been stunned in the past, getting hurt in the Monte Barrett and Ruslan Chagaev bouts. However, for Holyfield to hurt Valuev, he’s going to have to stay busy, throwing a lot of shots, enough so that he can counter the slow giant in between one of his own big punches.

Valuev likes to use his reach to keep fighters on the outside, but once they get in close to him, he’s very vulnerable. That’s what Holyfield needs to try and do. He’s got to try and duck under one of Valuev’s jabs, and shuffle inside to land a bomb on Valuev’s chin. Once inside, Holyfield can’t afford to stay there for long, because Valuev likes to grab onto his opponents and wrap them in his huge Sasquatch-like arms and lean on the with all of his 300+ pounds.

With Holyfield’s bony legs, he can’t take that kind of weight for long without weakening. Also, Valuev is a good inside fighter, and has a good uppercut that he likes to use on his opponents on the inside. While his uppercut is nothing like the type that Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe used to throw, it’s still hard enough to knockout an old fighter like Holyfield if he can land it enough times in the fight.

Clearly, the best idea is for Holyfield to try and get inside fast, throw several hard shots, and then skitter away to avoid getting hit too much. He’s obviously going to get hit coming at Valuev, you can’t avoid that, but if Holyfield can focus on landing fast shots and then retreating, he can minimize the damage that he sustains from Valuev.



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