The Heavyweight division in boxing is in a sad state, and has been for quite some time now. How many people even realize that this weekend is the WBA Heavyweight Championship? How many people even know who the WBA champ is? Or any Heavyweight champion? Well the WBA Heavyweight champion is the 7 foot 1 Russian giant...Nicolai Valuev. On saturday in Germany he will fight in a rematch against the only man who has beaten him so far, the undefeated and former WBA champ Ruslan Chagaev. The only thing that makes this fight even remotely interesting is shown in the photo here...7 foot 1, against 6 foot 1! It's not very often you'll get to see a fight where a whole foot in height separates the two fighters...and about 100 pounds!
And yet after mentioning the statistical differences between them, Chagaev didn't have alot of trouble beating Valuev when they first met in 2007 for the WBA title. The fight was dull and boring to be honest. Valuev plodding forward like Frankenstein's Monster...and Chagaev moving left and right constantly and not missing his straight left hand (Chagaev is a southpaw). Valuev just seemed to have no defense against the left. Chagaev is nicknamed "White Tyson" which is deceiving since he holds not even a fraction of the punching power Mike Tyson did. Frankly, Chagaev has bored me to death every fight I've seen him in. Like with John Ruiz...I find myself always routing for Chagaev's opponents regardless of who it is in the hopes that Chagaev will lose and his fights will not be televised anymore. I have a curse....that if a fight is televised at least somewhere, I must watch it, no matter if I am not a fan of the fighters. While the giant Valuev really has no talent whatsoever, I find myself interested in watching his fights. The size of him grabs my curiousity as I want to see how his opponents adapt and fight him. Unfortunately for me I can see Chagaev winning another boring 12 round decision this weekend. I am not quite sure what Valuev can do different to beat him. Valuev is slow, plodding, doesn't pack a big punch even though he weighs over 300 pounds, has awful defense.....I am hoping Valuev finds some way to win but I feel Chagaev will once again be WBA champ. Chagaev only lost the belt when he was stripped due to some injuries and he was not able to defend it.
Also this weeked there is an interesting Welterweight championship fight with undefeated WBC champ Andre Berto.
Berto is fighting once beaten Juan Urango. Urango is stepping up in weight but was a champion at 140 lbs, losing only to Ricky Hatton by decision. Urango packs a punch but I feel will be too slow for Berto. Berto is an action fighter with decent power. His last fight was a very entertaining 12 round decision over former Welterweight champ Luis Collazo. Berto should be able to outbox Urango and win a decision. The undercard has another interesting fight between rising Super Welterweight star Alfredo Angulo and former world champion Kermit Cintron. I was never too impressed with Cintron but he can punch very hard. I feel that his two devastating losses to Antonio Margarito really took alot of out him too. I can see Angulo scoring a TKO in an all action fight.
Utter garbage! Nobody cares. I guess Lennox Lewis wasn't so bad after all in the heavyweight division.
ReplyDeleteWhere's my comment?
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Who knows who the heavyweight champ is and frankly- who cares? That division has sucked since Tyson was the baby bull- and even then- looking back I have to question whether he was really all that- or all hype with hand picked opponents that he could destroy in 30 seconds. If he had a really good opponent--- we found out that he had to bite their ear off to even the playing field! So now I'm gonna say- that division has sucked since it's heyday in the 70's!
ReplyDeleteWell I wouldn't go that far. Tyson may have had alot of weak opposition during his reign but he was still good...I'd say he would have beaten Holyfield in his prime...the fight just happened too late.
ReplyDeleteI thought Holyfield beat Valuev. Not much happened in the fight, but that which did was favorable to Holyfield.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct on that one Dream Craft. Valuev did absolutely nothing against Holyfield...and that is no exageration...he did nothing! As much as I'd like to see Holyfield finally retire...he should be the WBA champ right now.
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