Boxing Preview: Nikolay Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield

ByDanny Wilson

Tonight at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, 46 year old Evander Holyfield will add another chapter to a career that began over 24 years ago in Madison Square Garden.

The fact that “The Real Deal” is still getting opportunities to deliver upon his goal of regaining a world title is pretty amazing but the man who delivered so many miracles in the past cannot be counted out in his challenge of WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolay Valuev, 49-1 (34), but from the outset, it’s unlikely Holyfield can pull this one off.

Despite his gigantic, 7 foot, 310 pound frame, Valuev can box and is fairly light on his feet but as Ruslan Chagaev displayed last year in Germany, the big Russian isn’t that hard to hit and he can be beaten.

Chagaev disrupted the big man’s offense by parrying the jab that Valuev works behind and staying out of range. The much quicker Chagaev countered well by leaping in with southpaw power left hands to head and body and then getting out of range again before taking return fire.

But Holyfield, 42-9-2 (27), isn’t a southpaw and isn’t nearly as mobile as Chagaevs so he’ll likely have to take on Valuev in a much more straight forward fashion and that means standing right in front of the big fella.

While that will definitely allow Valuev more opportunities to hit his opponent than it did against Chagaev, it will also give Holyfield probably his only chance to win the fight.

Holyfield lost to defensive master James Toney and recently against southpaw Sultan Ibragimov because they weren’t there to be hit, while lesser skilled opponents such as Vinny Maddalone and Lou Savarese were defeated because they couldn’t stand and trade with the former two-weight champion.

It should be a slugfest when Holyfield gets to grips with Valuev and no doubt they can take each other’s punches but at 46 years of age, it’s unlikely that Holyfield will have the stamina to keep up with the 35 year old Valuev for all twelve rounds and that will likely lead to his being outpointed.