Valuev Gets Gift Decision Against Holyfield

Last Saturday night, the current WBA heavyweight champ Nicolai "The Russian Giant" Valuev got an early Christmas gift by getting the nod from 2 of the judges that he won the 12 round WBA title match against the 46 year old, 4 time heavyweight champion Evander "The Real" Deal Holyfield.

I had thought before the fight that this might be an upset-- well if you consider the champion losing to a 46 year old 4 time heavyweight champion an upset-- because although Holyfield's reflexes are shot, and have been shot for awhile now, this weakness is only exploited by someone who can test his reflexes. That would mean a good counter puncher, and/or someone with significant speed and defensive skills---Chris Byrd and James Toney would fit this criteria and both have beaten Holyfield a few years back.

Valuev has/had none of those traits. He wins his fights due to having a OK jab and right cross that can reach opponents fairly easily since he towers over most and has a significant reach advantage, and because most opponents don't move. When I say OK jab I mean it has decent speed for a man that size but still slow enough that someone with even shot reflexes can escape if they use movement to their advantage.

Like Chagaev, Holyfield found success in movement and this kept Valuev from setting up. Valuev's body movement is too slow to adjust to anyone that gives him any modest lateral movement. Holyfield despite having shot reflexes, has been and is in tremendous physical condition, and has the combos down pat. This is why I believed Holyfield would cause Valuev problems. I knew that Valuev is vulnerable to being hit when movement is involved, and I knew that Holyfield perfection of boxing patterns would be enough to gain points for Holyfield. Holyfield didn't have to worry about Valuev's power, because although he's a huge man he doesn't have that knockout power you'd expect. So I figured the upset would come in the form of a 12 round decision. This is what happened...

Holyfield from the very start displayed great athleticism for any man at any age by keeping on his toes and selecting his shots against the much taller and almost 100 pound larger Valuev. The movement kept Valuev from setting up with anything significant, while Holyfield got on the inside and hit Valuev with some great hard hooks. Despite what I considered a great performance by Holyfield, Valuev got the decision. I don't see how, considering Holyfield not only threw and landed the most shots throughout the fight, but also landed the harder shots. Valuev followed Holyfield around the ring, but this doesn't constitute aggressiveness in my opinion which may have been favored in the eyes of the judges had it been considered that. If anyone was being aggressive, it was Holyfield moving in and selecting his shots. The judges scored the fight 114-114, 116-112, 115-114 in Valuev's favor. I had the fight 118-110 for Holyfield. Here's the video of the fight what do you think?

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 1

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 2

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 3

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 4

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 5

Holyfield vs. Valuev Part 6

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