Valuev vs. Chagaev on May 30th: Can Big Nikolay Get His Revenge?

By Boxing News - 05/19/2009 - Comments

By Matt Stein: 7-foot World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) is looking forward to his May 30th title bout against WBA heavyweight champion in recess Ruslan Chagaev (25-0-1, 17 KOs) in their revenge match at the Hartwall Arena, in Helsinki, Finland. Valuev, 35, lost his WBA heavyweight title to Chagaev two years ago in a 12-round majority decision in April 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany.

The bout was one of those types of fights where it’s tough to determine the winner. Valuev landed much more often, but Chagaev landed the harder shots. Normally, a fight like this would go to the champion, in this Valuev.

However, Chagaev got the nod and was given the narrow decision. However, due to a reoccurring string of illnesses and injuries, Chagaev has only defended the title twice in the past two years, beating Matt Skelton of Britain and more recently American Carl Davis Drummond in February 2009.

Chagaev has looked anything but impressive in both title defenses, doing what he had to do against two B-class fighters. Chagaev has had to pull out of two rematches with Valuev in the past due to nagging injuries and illnesses, which has been frustrating for both fighters, not to mention the other heavyweight contenders in the division that have seen the WBA title basically go into a deep freeze since Chagaev captured it against Valuev.

Not one to sit around and do nothing, after losing to Chagaev, Valuev rebounded with wins over Canadian Jean Francois Bergeron, Serguei Lyakhovich, John Ruiz and recently Evander Holyfield. Valuev defeated Ruiz for the vacant WBA heavyweight title in September 2008, beating Ruiz for the second time in his career.

Valuev began to show his age in his last fight, a 12-round majority decision victory over Holyfield in December 2008, a fight that few people felt that Valuev won. His hand speed and power, never good to begin with, looked very poor in his fight with Holyfield, and Nikolay’s work rate was quite low.

Had the fight taken place anywhere other than Valuev’s adopted home country of Germany, I feel that Valuev would have easily been defeated by the 46-year-old Holyfield.

Chagaev, 30, feels confident about being able to repeat his victory over Valuev in the rematch, and doesn’t see any reason why he can’t beat him for a 2nd time. However, Chagaev is going to have to perform a lot better than he did against Drumond, because he looked slow and was hit often by the American fighter.

In Chagaev’s previous fight with Valuev, he had a hard time landing shots to Valuev’s head due to his short reach. The vast majority of Chagaev’s punches either were stopped by the gloves of Valuev or ended up landing against his chest.

Chagaev tried hard, but at 6’1”, 224 pounds, Ruslan was giving up 11” inches in height an almost then same in reach against the 7’ foot 320 pound Valuev. Whoever emerges as the champion in this fight, it’s doubtful that they will hold onto the title for long.

The WBA has had little talent for the past few years, but now there are finally some quality fighters that have emerged, such as Chris Arreola, who would have an excellent chance of beating both Chagaev and Valuev.



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