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On January 20, WBA Heavyweight Champion Nickolai Valuev steps in the ring with Jameel McCline in Basel, Switzerland. There is no way anyone can be taking Valuev seriously when he is still fighting sub-standard opponents. This fight will do nothing to lend legitimacy to Valuev in particular, as one of the four belt holders, and the heavyweight division in general. There are a half dozen fighters that Valuev skipped over to take on “Big Deal” McCline.
Ray Austin is just as big as McCline and just as old at 36 years of age, why not him? Austin is ranked #3 by the WBA, while McCline barely makes the top 15. It wasn’t Austin that was picked to face Valuev because Ray knocks people out. And since drawing against up-and-comer Sultan Ibragimov, who’s challenging WBO titlist Shannon Briggs by the way, this past July, Austin is even more of a threat.
Valuev could have rematched John Ruiz and silenced the rumors that the title was gifted to the 7 foot Russian. Valuev also chose not to fight his number one contender Ruslan Chagaev, who beat Ruiz for the spot back in November.
Since losing to Calvin Brock last year, McCline has racked up seven victories against nobodies and lost one of fight to Zuri Lawrence, a journeyman with a 19-10-4 record. At 6’6”, McCline is probably the biggest target that Valuev has been in the ring against.
McCline has absolutely no power, tentative punching and poor movement, representing a cakewalk for Valuev. When you look at McCline’s record, you see how truly thin his resume is, even though he’s fought more elite opponents than Valuev, such as Chris Byrd, Wladimir Klitschko, Calvin Brock and an out of shape Shannon Briggs, whom McCline defeated.
Valuev hasn’t faced that kind of competition but he could fool us into thinking his 45-0 record means something if he fought SOMEBODY.
McCline is absolutely on no one’s radar. If Valuev wants to be seen as anything other than a circus attraction, he needs to be in with actual competition. We gave him a pass with Monte Barrett; we’d heard so much and wanted to see what the fuss was about. But now is the time that Valuev should be solidifying his legacy.
