Interesting Monte Barret Article: Picks Valuev to win, says Haye hits as hard as Wlad

As the only man to have been in the ring with both Haye and Valuev, Barrett gives his opinion on tomorrows fight. Plus an interesting insight into Haye's supposed power.

Apologies if repost...

Boxing News

The man who fought both

Only one boxer has fought both Nikolai Valuev and David Haye. Here, Monte Barrett predicts a winner and tells Tris Dixon about his own future

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Valuev 'slaps' Barrett

A COUPLE of weeks ago Monte Barrett was blasted out by Cuban heavyweight Odlanier Solis at Madison Square Garden in his hometown.
The New Yorker had taken the fight at three days’ notice and did not present Solis with the type of stern test that has come to be expected from him as the unofficial heavyweight gatekeeper.
Fighters who have beaten him tend to go on to bigger things. The biggest seeing as the heavyweight crown (an undisputed one at least) is potentially one of sport’s richest prizes.

Two who have turned Monte over on their way to the top meet this weekend as British hope David Haye and WBA champion – not to mention Russian giant – Nikolai Valuev meet in Germany.
Valuev took 11 rounds to get the job done against the American. Haye turned the trick in just five rounds.
Monte is the only common opponent shared by Bermondsey’s former model and the 7ft 2in Russian giant journalists have unkindly dubbed a wookie with the head the size of a space-hopper.


Speaking from his new apartment in Bayonne, New Jersey, where he lives a few doors down from former heavyweight contender Chuck Wepner, Barrett predicted what British fans did not want to hear, that the title will not be changing hands this weekend.
“I think David Haye has more tenacity,” said Barrett, “But I think Valuev will win the fight because he’s good at what he does.”
That accompanied by his enormous frame is what tips the fight in his favour, according to Barrett.
“I don’t know if Valev can stop David but I know he can win the fight. David’s been doing what he has to do. He’s got a big mouth. The most quiet he’s been was since he fought me but I think he’s making the same mistake I made when I fought him. He’s getting caught up in the hype.”
Barrett argues still that he won his fight with Haye after knocking the Londoner down with a late shot that had Haye off balance and out of position. “It took him 45 seconds to get up from that knockdown,” contends Barrett.
“He’s just so much hype that instead of taking the fight seriously and landing a huge right hand and winning the fight he’s thinking about the hype.”




But does the 38-year-old 42-fight veteran think Haye stand a chance?
“Anything is possible. What he has to do is fight both ways [switch stances and use angles] but David fights flat-footed. But he might land a couple of overhand rights...”
Barrett reckons Haye could also be better served fighting out of a crouch, making himself smaller. Although Haye is 6ft 3in, Barrett states that the way the Londoner boxed him made Haye seem about 5ft 11ins. That, he says, could work in Haye’s favour.
“[Ruslan] Chagaev [the only man to beat Valuev] countered him and Haye’s as fast as Chagaev. I don’t know if Haye has the power to knock Valuev out but anybody over 200lbs can get lucky. He has power. He’s not heavy-handed, he just has a lot of pop in his punch. When he hit me it reminded me of Wladimir Klitschko [who stopped Barrett in seven in 2000]. He has deceptive speed about his power and Klitschko has the same type of power in his punches. Valuev is not heavy handed at all."
There is a consensus that Valuev, at 36 and being such a massive specimen, might be on the slide. Barrett thinks otherwise.
“I think he’s better than when he fought me [in 2006],” he says. “A loss always makes you better. Chagaev was hungry for their fight. He had that look in his eye. It wasn’t the same Chagaev that fought Klitschko. Chagaev was a broken down fighter when he fought Wladimir. He had a lot of health problems, he took the fight on the spur of the moment and he had been training for Valuev; and Klitschko and Valuev are two very different people to prepare for.”



Preparation is not a luxury a fighter like Barrett has the luxury of these days. While his opponents have gone on to rule a fragmented world, articulate Monte has been left contemplating his future after losing to Solis.
“I took that fight at three days’ notice,” he reasons. “I had a twisted ankle. I’m so-so about boxing now. This morning I woke up and had real hunger about going in the ring which is crazy because I was thinking about hanging the gloves up. But today I just have a different hunger for boxing. I’ve got two more fights. I don’t want to leave on that note. For me to leave like that it’s not right.
“I had been watching Solis for about three months. He’s a strong guy. He actually reminds me of Valuev as he’s got good fundamentals, keeps his hands high and you don’t see him spinning around and doing backflips.”
Which brings us to Barrett’s own backflip when, after charging to the ring to take on Haye, he attempted to vault over the ropes only to get tangled and flop embarrassingly inside.
He chuckles when it is mentioned and then says he was injured even before that fall.
“I was already out of whack,” he protests. “I hurt my shoulder before the fight and I was not going to pull out that let but my trainer didn’t want me to go out.”


While Haye and Valuev battle it out for a share of the big man’s world Barrett is at home, weighing up his future and reflecting on his past.
“You know,” he says, “most of the fights I lost I was emotionally attached to the fight,” he said, with a nod to Haye’s pre-fight antics at winding up the giant. “If he trades with Valuev, Valuev is not a big puncher, he’s just a heavy guy and punches like he slaps, believe it or not. But if you fight the wrong fight all of a sudden Valuev gets a shot in here or there and he follows it with 300lbs behind it it wears you out. David’s right hand will probably shake Valuev up. If he times him with that straight right or overhand right he’s got Valuev might get dropped.”
If Haye wins, the world is his oyster. Think endorsements. Think titles. Think awards ceremonies. Think Sports Personality of the Year. Yes, even on the BBC.


Barrett, on the other hand, does not have that bright future to look forward to anymore. He has been around. He has calmed down. He has seen it all and laughed to himself when he read Haye had complained about the hotel in Germany this week as Haye, then in the promoter’s seat, pulled the same stunt on Monte before their fight last year.
One could argue that Barrett, who has lost his last two fights is no longer the heavyweight gatekeeper; good enough to beat the has-beens and never-weres but not good enough for the elite.
Maybe he’s just a name.
“I would say Solis [who beat Haye in the World amateur final in 2001] is now in the top 10 [in the world] because he beat me but I would say he shouldn’t be in the top 10 because he beat me when I had three days’ notice. I would like to fight him again. He has a name under his belt now and that name is my name. People only remember names. He beat Monte Barrett, they say, not that he beat a Monte Barrett with three days’ notice. “It’s about the name.”
It is ironic, then, that David is meeting Goliath in a fight where the selling point is the size disparity and not the name; although if Haye wins, he would well and truly have made his.

Monte fought Wlad 9 years ago, does he accurately remember how hard Wlad hits?

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Monte fought Wlad 9 years ago, does he accurately remember how hard Wlad hits?

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Probably better than you ;)

But it does seem that nobody has ever hurt him if you read that. I'm surprised he didn't say Solis had nothing on his punches.

...Jaz, I'm just saying Monte now has a lot of other fighters to compare power with, perhaps he's a bit confused.

LOL at Monte's excuses though

"See I had a twisted ankle, and my shoulder was hurt....I also just had my arms amputated...also I am part fish and have gills and cannot breathe out of the water"