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What If Vitali
Does Face
Valuev?
By Joe Harrison
In a recent Kiev press conference, the
Klitschko brothers expressed their
desires. Wladimir talked about David
Haye and wanting to “shut his
mouth”. Then Vitali spoke of his
upcoming bout with Juan Carlos
Gomez and his interest in facing
Nikolay Valuev.
“I know Gomez well. We boxed
together at Universum, but I am sure
of a victory and I will do everything to
knock him out. Then I wish to fight
against WBA heavyweight champion
Nikolay Valuev so that we have the
four championship titles. We’ll make
it!” said Vitali.
Unfortunately, a match-up between
Vitali and Valuev can not happen until
a couple roadblocks are passed. While
Vitali needs to focus on his bout with
Gomez scheduled for March 21st,
Valuev will likely face Ruslan
Chagaev. Therefore, if Valuev does
face Chagaev and loses, this bout
probably won’t happen. On the other
hand, if Valuev wins, then things can
get very interesting.
This is a bout boxing fans have been
drooling over the thought of for quite
some time. If Vitali does face Valuev
to unify the WBC and WBA heavyweight
titles, the event would be enormous
with two enormous men. Vitali
stands at 6’8 while Valuev is 7 feet
tall. It would be another step closer to
having an undisputed heavyweight
champion, but only if Valuev wins.
Otherwise, you would have to settle
for two unified champions, Vitali
Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko.
So how good is Valuev (50-1, 34
KOs)? Well, it may depend on which
fight you watch. Before entering the
top ranks, Valuev dismantled opponents
such as Dicky Ryan, Paolo
Vidoz, and Clifford Etienne. By that
point, he was 41-0, and appeared to be
a big threat to the top heavyweights. A
big threat as in a very large threat.
Suddenly, Valuev was not as dominant
as expected. He looked very unimpressive
while defeating Larry Donald
by a controversial majority decision in
a WBA eliminator back in October of
‘05. Then, only two months later, he
had another disappointing performance
while defeating John Ruiz by
another controversial majority decision
to win the WBA heavyweight
title. In April of ‘07, after two successful
defenses against unworthy opponents
in Owen Beck and Monte
Barrett, Valuev would lose his WBA
title to Chagaev by a split decision.
Valuev appeared to be much improved
after losing his title, scoring decision
victories over Sergei Liakhovich and
John Ruiz without much controversy.
As for his bout with Evander
Holyfield last December, now that
was a different story. It must have
been a candidate for “Most Boring
Fight of the Year”. More disturbing
than the low activity during the bout
was the controversial outcome. Once
again, Valuev was given a majority
decision victory in a bout that he
appeared to lose. Valuev’s performance
was considered disgraceful,
especially against a 46-year old boxer
who looked younger than Valuev, outworked
him and dancing around him.
Then there is Vitali Klitschko (36-0,
35 KOs), the current WBC heavyweight
champion. A man who has
never lost a bout on points and has
never been knocked down. His only
two losses are to Chris Byrd by injury
and Lennox Lewis by cuts. Vitali was
leading the scorecards during both
bouts.
When Vitali quit during his bout
against Byrd due to an injured shoulder
, he received much criticism. Then
he appeared to redeemed himself by
showing so much heart in his bout
against Lewis. After stopping Kirk
Johnson within two rounds in
December of ‘03, and stopping Corrie
Sanders during the eighth round in
April of ‘04, Klitschko had become
the WBC heavyweight champion.
Vitali had only made one successful
defense, an 8th round stoppage of
Danny Williams in December of ‘04,
before retiring due to repeated injuries
while preparing to face Hasim
Rahman in 2005. During his absence,
he called out Lennox Lewis repeatedly,
and failed his campaign at becoming
the major of Kiev twice. Last
October, he returned and dethroned
Samuel Peter by an eighth-round TKO
to regain his WBC title. At this point,
at the age of 37, Vitali appears to be
just as dangerous as he was over four
years ago.
So what if Vitali does face Valuev?
Well, they definitely make an interesting
comparison for a couple of giants.
They both have an excellent jab, and
they both lack speed. Age is on
Valuev’s side by two years, but
Klitschko has the advantage in
strength, as shown by his knockout
percentage. As far as competition,
well, it is difficult to brag in a lackluster
heavyweight division. If anything
is for certain, Vitali tends to serve a
beating to most of his opponents. If
Klitschko faces Valuev, you can
expect Klitschko to serve him a beating
as well.