By Jim Dower: I have grave doubts about Evander Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) ever getting a chance at a rematch with World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs). As of now, Valuev has to face Ruslan Chagaev, the WBA champion in recess, in his next fight, but according to Valuev’s managing director at Saurland Event, Chris Meyer, “The close result makes a rematch a possibility.”
But that will have to wait for Valuev’s fight with Chagaev, unfortunately for Holyfield. The worst part of that, however, is that Chagaev has already beaten Valuev, defeating him by a 12-round majority decision in April 2007, to take away Valuev’s WBA title, and given that result, there’s a high possibility that Chagaev will beat him again in a second fight.
Chagaev, from Uzbekistan, is like a younger, faster, more active Holyfield-type fighter, who likes to fight on the outside and periodically come inside to throw powerful combinations before moving away again.
In essence, his style of fighting is much like the style that Holyfield used against Valuev last Saturday, only much better. Chagaev is a lot more active, throws punches with a lot of power and is just as fearless as Holyfield. In the first fight, Chagaev easily outworked Valuev, pressing the giant hard with his constant attacks and making Valuev work much harder than he wanted to.
As the fight wore on into the later rounds, Valuev began tiring out badly, losing power on his shots and throwing less and less punches. By the end of the fight, he looked totally exhausted, gasping for breath like a fish out of water, sweating badly and looking every bit of a loser.
As much as Holyfield probably wants to fight Valuev again, so as to prove that he is the better fighter, it’s unclear whether Holyfield would want to waste his time if there’s not a title on the line by the time that Valuev decides to fight him again – if he ever does.
Holyfield, 46, has said repeatedly that his main goal is to win a 5th heavyweight title, and after that move towards a unification match with the other title holders in the division. Without a title, there would be no real reason to fight Valuev, aside from getting a good payday in Germany and the chance to prove to the World who the better fighter is.
The thing is, most of the world, excluding Germany, already recognize that Holyfield won the fight and was given a bad deal in losing the fight, so for Holyfield to seek Valuev, if he’s no longer in possession of his title, would be a meaningless gesture on his part. Instead of going after Valuev, should have no longer have his title, Holyfield needs to seek out Chagaev, who like Valuev, also fights out of Germany.
Holyfield would probably have a good chance at getting a shot at Chagaev, because Evander has no increased his worth with his controversial decision loss, making him a potentially hot commodity to the Germany audiences.
For Chagaev, it would be a good payday, probably easily his best of his career, while at the same time an easy fight for him, because appears to be a lot better than Holyfield at this point in his career.
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