Abraham predicting win for Valuev over Haye – News

By Boxing News - 10/29/2009 - Comments

valuev-abe3(Picture: SE / Photo Wende) By Eric Thomas: Super Six tourney contestant Arthur Abraham believes that WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev will beat British challenger David Haye next month on November 7th in their title match in Nuremburg, Germany. Abraham, who recently stopped Jermain Taylor in the 12th round in his first bout in the Super Six tournament on October 17th, had this to say about the Haye vs. Valuev bout:

“I think Nikolai is going to win. For Haye it will be difficult to come out of cruiserweight and fight a man that is as tall and heavy as Valuev. I think Haye will tire towards the end because he has a lot of size to push away. Haye is a good boxer, no doubt about that, but I believe that Niko will take care of business. He will control the fight with his long left jab.”

Haye, 29, will be facing his first real test as a heavyweight in facing the seven foot Valuev. In Haye’s two prior fights in the heavyweight division, he’s been matched softly against Tomasz Bonin and Monte Barrett. Haye’s handlers obviously wanted to ensure that he wasn’t put in against any one too good. However, by matching him against only weaker fighters in the heavyweight division and not putting him in with better opponents, Haye finds himself taking a huge step up in competition in facing the highly skilled Valuev. Haye says that he’s worked a lot in training camp to learn how to minimize Valuev’s height, reach and weight advantages but it will be interesting to see if the training will pay off.

Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis thinks Haye can beat Valuev as long as he uses his boxing skills and doesn’t let Valuev maul him. However, Lewis is less certain about Haye’s chances in doming the heavyweight division, saying to the BBC “Haye is fighting an uphill battle, because there are about four big guys he needs to get rid of first.”

Haye had his chance to fight both Klitschko brothers but backed out of fights with each of them. Haye would be at a huge disadvantage against both Klitschko brothers because of their size and power. Haye has said in the past that he wants to go after Wladimir Klitschko first. That’s a winnable fight if Haye can get in punching range and land one of his big shots. But against Vitali Klitschko, it probably doesn’t matter what Haye lands, his chances of knocking Vitali out are slim. Most likely, Haye would be knocked out in a fight with Vitali, although he would have a slight punchers’ chance to win.

Abraham thinks that Valuev will be able to control the fight with Haye by pounding Haye with his jab from the outside. Valuev will obviously have to throw a lot of jabs because Haye will be looking to make fast attacks so that he can land his big bombs and get away before Valuev has a chance to connect with anything. Many boxing experts feel that this will be a game of cat and mouse. Haye has the power to end the fight with one shot, but some experts feel that Haye will be afraid to take a chance and get hit with something big from Valuev. The big Russian isn’t a big puncher, but he hits hard enough to hurt Haye, who has a history of being knocked down in fights at the cruiserweight level.



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