Valuev vs Holyfield
BetUS Sportsbook bettors interested in the fight game will witness either an incredible comeback by one of the best fighters of his generation or the end of an historic career on Saturday when Evander Holyfield, former heavyweight and cruiserweight champion who has been involved in so many of boxing’s great moments in the last couple of decades, challenges behemoth Nicolay Valuev for the WBA heavyweight championship, ina 12-round bout that takes place at the Hallenstadion on Zurich, Switzerland.
HOLYFIELD STILL TRYING TO FULFILL TITLE QUEST
BetUS Boxing Betting Odds
WBA Heavyweight Title
December 20 — Zurich
NICOLAY VALUEV -1000
EVANDER HOLYFIELD +650
OVER 9.5 ROUNDS -135
UNDER 9.5 ROUNDS +105
For betting purposes, let’s size up the contestants:
VALUEV (49-1, 34 KO’s), the -1000 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds, was in “development” for over a decade before taking many risks in the ring. It is not really known how legitimate some of his early bouts were, but Valuev won more than his share of bouts through either overwhelming size or intimidation. He fought certain trial horses like Dicky Ryan, Marcelo Dominguez, Bob Mirovic, Attila Levin and Paolo Vidoz, Valuev was elevated in terms of level of opposition in October of 2005 and registered a decision over Larry Donald in what was a WBA title elimination fight. He then defeated John Ruiz to win the WBA belt in a majority decision two months later and defended his title three times before loosing it to Ruslan Chagaev in April of last year. He earned himself another title fight by scoring a decision over Sergei Lyakhovich and beat Ruiz once again by decision on August 30 to win the WBA title, which by this time was vacant. At 7’2″ and often over 320 pounds, Valuev is an imposing figure.
HOLYFIELD (42-9-2, 27 KO’s), the +650 underdog at BetUS, has a resume so long and so renowned that only quick career highlights are necessary. He won a light heavyweight bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics, which could have been gold if not disqualified in the semi-final round of action. Holyfield won the WBA cruiserweight title by decision over Dwight Qawi in only his 13th fight. He proceeded to dominate that division for two years before moving up to the heavyweight class, plowing through a number of fighters until he knocked out undisputed champ Buster Douglas in three rounds in October 1990. Holyfield made a lot of money fighting guys like George Foreman and Larry Holmes, then lost the title to Riddick Bowe in November of 1992. A year later he beat Bowe in the rematch, before he was taken out by Michael Moorer. A third bout with Bowe resulted in a stoppage defeat, then, as a huge underdog, he stopped Mike Tyson in eleven rounds to win the WBA crown. The rematch with Tyson brought the famous ear-biting incident, and a DQ win. He avenged the previous Moorer loss in their rematch, then had the draw and decision loss to Lennox Lewis. The trilogy of fights against John Ruiz followed, where Holyfield regained a portion of the title. He’s lost four of his last seven, including a TKO to James Toney, a decision to Chris Byrd, and his last fight, more than 14 months ago, a decision loss to Sultan Ibragimov with the WBO title on the line. There’s a lot more to fill in between, but we could be here all day.
If you’re talking about significant fights, Holyfield hasn’t really emerged victorious in one of those since 2002, yet this is the second title shot he’s received in the last fifteen months. To say that he is a physical marvel would be stretching the imagination a little. Although, it is commendable, in a sense, that Holyfield would be able to still be in there punching at this age, but that’s about the only positive that you can take out of his last effort, the 12-round decision defeat to Sultan Ibragimov in which Holyfield lost by six points on two judges’ scorecards and eight points on a third.
Let use a timeline for perspective: six years ago Holyfield looked like he was standing still in losing a decision to Chris Byrd that was not as close as the scores indicated. Five years ago he was getting stopped by James Toney, the former middleweight champ who moved from 190 pounds to 217. Four years ago he lost such a one-sided decision to fringe contender Larry Donald that the New York State Athletic Commission tried to have him banned on medical grounds. In between then and now he had that unsuccessful fight for the WBO title, preceded by wins over Fres Oquendo, Vinny Maddalone and Lou Savarese, none of whom have it anymore.
Even if those wins didn’t prove Holyfield to be a world-class fighter, they did demonstrate that he could still put together punches, and in a couple of them he actually looked pretty sharp. So I am relatively confident that he can stand up.
He’s lost to a couple of guys – Donald and John Ruiz – who have been beaten by Valuev. The big Russian is obviously a quite different fighter than anyone’s ever seen before; he is not a man of tremendous skill, but has been able to get himself well past the point where he is a glorified circus act. He will probably come into this fight somewhere around 325 pounds, and though he doesn’t possess the agility or coordination of an NBA center, he is not a statue in there either. Now that we’ve gotten past that disclaimer, he is not nimble, can be beaten to the punch, and is rather mechanical. If he is landing the jab, he can control fights, and indeed he has controlled 49 of his 50 outings. But someone who wants to be aggressive and isn’t apprehensive about being hit coming in can out-hustle him.
So why hasn’t anyone, aside from Ruslan Chagaev, the southpaw who is his only conqueror, done so? Well, let’s take a look at the opponents. And let’s forget about the hand-picked foes he had for the first ten or eleven years of his career. Forget about shot fighters like Clifford Etienne or those with inflated records like Dicky Ryan, Jean Francois Bergeron or Gerald Nobles. Donald was too timid, Ruiz doesn’t usually initiate action, Owen Beck and Monte Barrett were pretenders, Jameel McCline got hurt in the third round and couldn’t continue, and Sergei Lyakhovich just didn’t fight; Let’s face it – in many cases Valuev’s size was just overwhelming. Once he moved into ten-round territory he outweighed everybody by at least fifty pounds. But he was also pretty well taken care of.
Maybe that’s the case with Saturday’s opponent. If you wanted a big draw, and wanted to avoid unnecessary risk, the 46-year-old might be a name you’d think of. Switzerland is supposed to be neutral, right? Well, because it’s Valuev’s promoters, he’ll have something of the home field advantage here. I don’t know that I would trust the “system” here to let Holyfield win by decision. I don’t figure he has enough to knock Valuev out, although I recognize that he can do damage if he hits him just right. I’m having a hard time believing Holyfield will show enough energy for 12 rounds, darting in and out, fighting like someone ten years younger, although Valuev is exactly the kind of guy who could vulnerable to a capable opponent. I see Holyfield as more of a “survivor” here; a guy who will do what it takes to stay in the fight, in the hope that he can land that big blow. I figure he won’t.
But I won’t lay 10/1 with Valuev either. Certainly it wouldn’t be inconceivable that Holyfield could be worn down completely wrestling around with this guy, and that weakness could lead to an eventual stoppage. But I see a more probable scenario being a distance fight, with Holyfield either not doing enough to win, or – less likely – being able to steal a bunch of rounds and shock everybody. I’ll stick with the total, going OVER 9.5 rounds at -135 in the BetUS boxing sports betting odds.
