Brick City Boxing

www.Doghouseboxing.com
By: Thomas Gerbasi

Yes, most of us would say that at 46 years old, Evander Holyfield should walk off into the sunset and enjoy retirement until he gets his call from the Hall of Fame in Canastota. But getting robbed of a 12 round decision against Nikolay Valuev Saturday at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland isn’t the way a former heavyweight champion – or any fighter for that matter - should be treated.

Scores were 116-112, 115-114, and 114-114 for Valuev, in what may have been the most disgraceful decision of 2008, and the fans agreed with their booing.

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“I can’t be disappointed in what I did in the ring,” said Holyfield. “I felt that I did what was necessary, but the judges score the fight.”

And though the 12 rounder for the WBA heavyweight crown was definitely on the short list for worst fights of the year, it was clear that Holyfield did enough to win the fight everywhere but on the scorecards.

Holyfield had the right idea early on, as he used movement around the ring with the occasional offensive spurt inside. Unfortunately, the key word was occasional, as Holyfield was far from active. On the positive side for the “Real Deal”, Valuev was even less active, as he tossed out the occasional jab, followed by a clinch whenever Holyfield came inside.

By round three, the Swiss crowd was chanting “Holyfield, Holyfield”, and as round five commenced, Holyfield was getting a little braver as his darts to the inside came more frequently. Valuev, who had to have been falling dangerously behind on the scorecards, continued to lumber forward with no intention of throwing any punches.

In the sixth round, even ringside commentator Al Bernstein had seen enough, calling Valuev’s performance up to that point “the worst I’ve ever seen.” And he wasn’t far off, especially when describing someone who was calling himself a “champion.”

Valuev didn’t show any increased urgency as the second half of the bout got underway, but in the eighth the seven footer started following up his lazy jab with some strong right hands. And even though the punches weren’t doing any damage, at least Valuev was starting to realize that he was in a fight.

The Russian continued to press a little more in round nine, but when he started to put his punches together, Holyfield, riding on a wave of confidence, gave as good as he got, getting a rise out of the crowd.

Holyfield, with a seemingly endless reserve of stamina (granted, he wasn’t been pushed to empty his gas tank), continued to move effortlessly around the ring, even tagging Valuev with a hard right cross / left cross combination in the tenth.

Valuev may have stolen the 11th round simply by throwing more than the challenger (who rarely punched at all during the round), but the final three minutes saw Holyfield running out the clock in style as Valuev continued to do what he did for the previous 33, walking, stalking, and landing nothing.

But apparently that was enough for the judges.

With the “win”, Valuev improves to 50-1 with 34 KOs; Holyfield falls to 42-10-2 with 27 KOs.