Nikolai Valuev: Is He The Real Deal?

19.09.06 - By Dave Domenico: On October 7, boxing fans will get to see the coming out party for the seven foot Russian giant Nikolai Valuev. Individuals with his stature and image have been a collective part of the entertainment industry. Movies and professional wrestling have had their share of giant entertainers over the years. Boxing, on the other hand, was never a venue for large men. In today’s world, the average heavyweight stands well over six feet tall and weighs an average of 240lbs. That is certainly considered a “big” heavyweight for today’s standards. When compared to these averages, Valuev is far above the norm. The only other man like him in heavyweight history was Primo Carnera. In case you don’t already know, Carnera was heavyweight champion in the late 1930’s. He was a huge specimen at 6’ 6’’, 260 lbs and towered over the fighters of that time. Unfortunately, Carnera ultimately lacked the overall skill to compete with the smaller and faster heavyweights of the era.

Today, Valuev finds himself in a similar role. A giant man in a very big era for heavyweight champions. Valuev gained the boxing world’s attention when he won the WBA heavyweight title. He scored a controversial decision victory over John Ruiz. Many people who saw the fight felt that Ruiz won a close decision but was robbed. Perhaps it was viewed that Valuev would prove to be a more marketable champion than the ever-unpopular Ruiz. I don’t know, just my opinion. A few months ago, Valuev made his first title defense by knocking out fringe contender Owen Beck in just three rounds. That brings us up to date.

In just a few short weeks, Valuev will make his first title defense in the U.S. against American fringe contender Monte Barrett. Barrett’s last fight was decision loss against former WBC champion Hasim Rahman. It is fairly obvious that Barrett is a intended to be handpicked opponent to show case Valuev as the next boxing attraction. Valuev is a giant, and that alone makes him a spectacle in boxing. No question about that.

The question is can he fight. Is he the real deal or another hyped up stiff? His fight against Barrett will be shown live on HBO. That is a good thing because it gives the average fight fan a chance to see him in action. He is certainly not PPV material yet. Few fighters are these days. But at least on October 7, boxing fans will get some indication as to whether Valuev is for real or not. I wish him success. However, if he falls short, the WWE is always looking for new talent.


http://www.eastsideboxing.com

....to answer your question

Fighting the likes of Monte Barrett, Owen Beck, and Attila Levin does not make him "the real deal"


The man is 7'0 feet tall, 325 pounds he should be fighting Mountain Lions and Grizzly Bears and not BUMS...put him in with a KILLER like Wlad or hell even Sam Peter, I'll respect him a little if he beats Sam....I'll really respect him if he can beat Wlad.

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Originally Posted by Lyle

....to answer your question

Fighting the likes of Monte Barrett, Owen Beck, and Attila Levin does not make him "the real deal"


The man is 7'0 feet tall, 325 pounds he should be fighting Mountain Lions and Grizzly Bears and not BUMS...put him in with a KILLER like Wlad or hell even Sam Peter, I'll respect him a little if he beats Sam....I'll really respect him if he can beat Wlad.

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Yes he can be the real deal.

Lyle's just a hater.

I mean come on...Wlad got destroyed by Brewster...BREWSTER...who lost to Etienne & Shufford...who then beat Peter...who almost beat Wlad...& then Wlad almost get's beaten by DaVarryl Williamson...moves on to fight Castillo...then destroys Byrd...whom he had pretty much destroyed before...& now is fighting Brock who has fought no one...even though I like Brock...he's fought no one...& now is...oh my...

Lyle...don't be a hater...I like Wlad...& I'm willing to give Valuev a shot...you should too...come on. :-*

No Valuev gets no shot from me!

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Originally Posted by Lyle

No Valuev gets no shot from me!

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Hate hate hate hate hate...

Where's my gotdam picture of Jesse muhfwockin Jackson??!?

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Originally Posted by wacko3205

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Originally Posted by Lyle

No Valuev gets no shot from me!

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Hate hate hate hate hate...

Where's my gotdam picture of Jesse muhfwockin Jackson??!?

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Oh here it is...

Gotdam riz-ight!!!

Represent Jess!!!

Oh I hate THAT motherfucker!

The Confederate Flag has been on the SC State Capital building since the 60's and in the late 90's 2000's Jesse all of a sudden finds a problem with it.

As for Valuev...his day will come

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Originally Posted by wacko3205

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Originally Posted by Lyle

....to answer your question

Fighting the likes of Monte Barrett, Owen Beck, and Attila Levin does not make him "the real deal"


The man is 7'0 feet tall, 325 pounds he should be fighting Mountain Lions and Grizzly Bears and not BUMS...put him in with a KILLER like Wlad or hell even Sam Peter, I'll respect him a little if he beats Sam....I'll really respect him if he can beat Wlad.

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Yes he can be the real deal.

Lyle's just a hater.

I mean come on...Wlad got destroyed by Brewster...BREWSTER...who lost to Etienne & Shufford...who then beat Peter...who almost beat Wlad...& then Wlad almost get's beaten by DaVarryl Williamson...moves on to fight Castillo...then destroys Byrd...whom he had pretty much destroyed before...& now is fighting Brock who has fought no one...even though I like Brock...he's fought no one...& now is...oh my...

Lyle...don't be a hater...I like Wlad...& I'm willing to give Valuev a shot...you should too...come on. :-*

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I'm not sure if it's the drunkenness or stupidity talking. But your way off on Valuev. The guys garbage. The only thing he gots going for him is he's 7 foot tall. Which means he's a big pile of garbage. Take your sc and go sober up.

What did Jessie Jackson do to be in a mug shot??

He was probably arrested at a sit in or protest or something.

No he isn't. That Beck fight he should be disqualified for

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Originally Posted by boozeboxer

What did Jessie Jackson do to be in a mug shot??

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Being born

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Originally Posted by wacko3205

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Originally Posted by wacko3205

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Originally Posted by Lyle

No Valuev gets no shot from me!

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Hate hate hate hate hate...

Where's my gotdam picture of Jesse muhfwockin Jackson??!?

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Oh here it is...

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Here he is without the mustache...

http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...manuel8299.jpg

But anyways, back to Valuev!

All Valuev has done is be a big old hairy knuckle dragging ape of a fighter who hasn't stepped up his level of competition over 44 fights.

This guys toughest fights were Ruiz and Donald! Taking nothing away from Larry he's a tough nut to crack but Ruiz is EASY for big fighters to fight as long as you have a halfway decent jab. That being said there are a lack of punchers on his record as well!

The guy was staggared by Taras Bidenko! And caught pretty good by Otis Tisdale! Imagine if that was Sam Peter, or worse yet Wladimir Klitschko!

I think Oleg Maskaev vs Valuev would be an even match up, so yeah the guy has SOME skill but not enough to legitimately be 44-0-0

"..and NEW WBA Heavyweight Champion of the World.......Monte Barrett!!!"

...I wouldn't be surprised ;)

he's just a slightly bigger bum

Is he the real deal? He doesn't have the power or the skill to beat Wlad... I'm 100% with Lyle on this one, I think Peter Beats him.

He's just another belt holder who will fight any one in the bottom half of the top 10 (or below) rather than fighting some one like Toney Or Peter or *shock* another belt holder.

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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After posting pretty much pure nonsense, you actually been making some good sense recently. Good for you. And after giving you over 10, 11 sc's, I'm actually going to cc you for the first time. :thumb:

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

I neither like or dislike Nick. His record might be built on bums but he still beat all those bums. Eventually he will have to fight a non-bum. Then I suppose we will see if he is the real deal or not. I dont think he is, but he does make me wonder how big HWs will be in 20 years or so. Id guess by 2026 the top 10 HWs will average 6'7" 260 lbs.

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

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Of course you don't think he was. :shakehead:

You just lost quite a few points on the credibility scale bub.

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Originally Posted by mucho testosterone

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

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Of course you don't think he was. :shakehead:

You just lost quite a few points on the credibility scale bub.

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Like he ever had credibility

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Originally Posted by mucho testosterone

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

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Of course you don't think he was. :shakehead:

You just lost quite a few points on the credibility scale bub.

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Dear god no....

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by mucho testosterone

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

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Of course you don't think he was. :shakehead:

You just lost quite a few points on the credibility scale bub.

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Dear god no....

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Yeah I know...no big deal but my objective isn't to make you cry here on the forum (with the exception of the Toney fan bashing thing Sorry ;)) but cmon..you put me in a really ackward position with that ignorant statement you made.
Marciano is the only heavyweight to retire undefeated and that wasn't due to a lack of fights or his overwhelming size either. He beat Joe Louis to boot. So wtf?

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Originally Posted by mucho testosterone

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by mucho testosterone

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Originally Posted by p4pking

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Originally Posted by cockey cockney

Personally i really dont like this bloke i think he's a joke. He has seriously not fought ANYBODY and he mite go on to beat Rocky's record......Jesus how poor the HW division is! :(

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Wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen... Rocky wasn't all that either.

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Of course you don't think he was. :shakehead:

You just lost quite a few points on the credibility scale bub.

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Dear god no....

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Yeah I know...no big deal but my objective isn't to make you cry here on the forum (with the exception of the Toney fan bashing thing Sorry ;)) but cmon..you put me in a really ackward position with that ignorant statement you made.
Marciano is the only heavyweight to retire undefeated and that wasn't due to a lack of fights or his overwhelming size either. He beat Joe Louis to boot. So wtf?

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My point was that a fighters record doesn't tell the whole story.. People only look at Rocky and say, oh.. he retired undefeated, wow, he's the greatest. Not anyone on this forum, but friends of mine who don't really watch boxing, and probably the vast majority of uninformed boxing fans think the 2 greatest HW's ever were Ali and Rocky. The fact all his big wins were over fighters who were past it, and he retired very early because his style wasn't going to be effective for any longer... there are lots of HW's who could have retired undefeated and just kept fighting, it doesn't mean they weren't better fighters in their prime. Larry Holmes was 1 win away from surpassing Marciano's record, but he fell short on the 1 occasion after ruling the division for 7 years, and he isn't recognized as acheiving as much, probably because he kept fighting past his best.. Im just saying that Valuev could fight another 4 or 5 decent fringe contenders and surpass Rocky's record, but it wouldn't mean dick all.. Just like I don't feel Rocky's undefeated record means as much as most do. If I lost some credibility in your books, I can live with that... Rather express my opinion thank's very much.

Joe Louis and Rocky are the best ever

Ali is third


The reason Rocky's record is so good is because he fought everyone there was to fight whereas VALUEV has fought no one

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Joe Louis and Rocky are the best ever

Ali is third

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See what I mean? ;D

But I just gave a very valid reason

I seen him fight guy called becks on a dvd last night,and he looked kinda slow but he is huge and that will take him far,but I think when he meets a big puncher with no fear he will be in trouble,if he gets knocked out will be some bang lol...

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Joe Louis and Rocky are the best ever

Ali is third


The reason Rocky's record is so good is because he fought everyone there was to fight whereas VALUEV has fought no one

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But there was noone to fight that was as good as people consider his record to be.. Walcott, Charles, and Louis, were plain old. Lastarza was tough, so was Rex Layne, and both of those fights were very very hard for Rocky, some ppl think Lastarza won the first fight. I just don't see the greateness on his record that many seem to.. Look at Walcott and Charles record going into their fight's with Rocky, they had practically been beating the crap out of each other for 5 years prior to it, and both were 40ish, just ancient for a fighter in those days..

Yes Ali was great in his day,But Rocky was the greatest by far! He showed that in his fight against Clubber Lang! And the russian guy in Rocky V. ..........huh........what......................a movie????..........oh sorry......uh.....never mind......

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Originally Posted by p4pking

But there was noone to fight that was as good as people consider his record to be.. Walcott, Charles, and Louis, were plain old. Lastarza was tough, so was Rex Layne, and both of those fights were very very hard for Rocky, some ppl think Lastarza won the first fight. I just don't see the greateness on his record that many seem to.. Look at Walcott and Charles record going into their fight's with Rocky, they had practically been beating the crap out of each other for 5 years prior to it, and both were 40ish, just ancient for a fighter in those days..

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But Rocky never ducked anyone, Rocky fought everyone that was out there and Valuev has not fought ANYONE.

You cannot be blamed for your lack of competition when it's the best out there at the time....Valuev has guys he can fight Don King just steers him away from those guys

Just because he never ducked any body it doesn't make him a better boxer than Ali. Personally I think that Ali just had to much Ring smarts for Rocky. We all know that Ali could handle hard punchers and survive a war.

[youtube=425,350]qIBAnzlGLTg[/youtube]

if ali and rocky fought this is what would happen haha ;)

Pfffffffffffffffffff... :P

That's from before any one had seen Ali in a war, let alone a computer... ;) Rocky couldn't touch him... :)

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Originally Posted by AdamGB

Pfffffffffffffffffff... :P

That's from before any one had seen Ali in a war, let alone a computer... ;) Rocky couldn't touch him... :)

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yea i know mate just thought people would wana see it

I was considering buying it on DVD, came out over here in January or something.

valuev CAN be the reral deal, but hes gotta step up the competition. if he beats barret convincingly, then thta would a decent win. but he needs to fight either Wlad, peter, or liakovich before we can say he is for real.