Valuev v Akinwande

bugs · Post by **bugs** » 04 May 2005, 07:56

From fightnews.com
Promoter Sauerland Event has inked 39-year-old former heavyweight king Henry Akinwande (45-2-1, 29 KOs). Akinwande will appear on the May 14 card at the Bayreuther Oberfrankenhalle in Bayreuth, Germany. He will face Alexei Vassilev in an eight-rounder. Plans are for Akinwande to face 7-foot Nikolai Valuev on July 16 in Nürnberg. Valuev is facing Clifford Etienne on the 14th.

I know Akinwande is old, but he is a hard man to beat, should be a good move for Valuev who is looking more and more like the real thing.

jomothepure · Post by **jomothepure** » 04 May 2005, 08:18

Jeez, bit of a surprise this one. Hope Akinwande has had more than 10 days notice the public have! I suppose we'll see how he gets on against Vassilev. Very tough guy, Akinwande, although not sure what he'd make of Valuev

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 04 May 2005, 08:22

Akinwanker and Valuev will have a right hugfest.

jab · Post by **jab** » 04 May 2005, 09:25

nickd wrote:Akinwanker and Valuev will have a right hugfest.

Doubt it. Akinwande is 6 inches shorter. It would be hard for him to hug being so short. He is also psysically much weaker so any wrestling attempt will only tire out Akinwande.

Its more likely that Valuev will lay some big right hands on him and drop it inside 4-5 rounds.

What I want to see from Val is work on making his defense tighter and adding the right uppercut to his arsenal. Lewis had a very educated and effective right uppercut.
Lewis was right: people will appreciae him more after he retires. He left a big vacuum.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 04 May 2005, 09:41

Well said. For such a big man, Lewis was very good technically, his jab, left hook, right cross and left and right uppercuts were all excellent, and he moved pretty well for his size. I have little doubt that he would have twatted Vitali had he been properly prepared and maybe a year or two younger, and he would have battered a lumbering guy like Valuev.

It's a knock on todays heavyweights, that I find it hard to see any of the current crop giving him a battering. The skill level of the current crop of heavyweights is appalling.

jab · Post by **jab** » 04 May 2005, 10:33

Yeah, Lewis had the full arsenal. He was a pugilist specialist. Though he had power, he didnt rely only on power and thus developed very good boxing skills.

I do not count his poor showing or shape agaisnt Vitaly. He was gettign old and after beating Tyson from post to post he had already accomplished everything he set out to do. He could have retired right then and still walk into the Hall of Fame.

On Valuev,

He is a nice kid, very modest. But he needs serious work on technique, defense and offense. He is not yet fully matured asa boxer.

In todays heavyweight division the guys with the skills to beat him as a certain bet, are unfortunately too old (Holy, Tyson) or too small (Toney, Byrd) so that makes Val a very hard nut to crack. Vitaly has the tools because of his better skills, big size and huge power.
I agree Lewis would have had him too. But he is retired.

Rahaman has the power to do it. But he may not have the heart. Rahman doesnt like it when someone hits him with big power. Saw it agaisnt Lewis and even against Ruiz. The only exception was agaisnt Sanders, but that was years ago.
Rahman has slipped a lot since then.

Candidate guys that could have Val beat are: Golota, Wlad, Maskaev and maybe Samil Sam.

On Lewis: I think he made a mistake not to have a rematch agaisnt Vitali. Its not like he was blown out by him, so there was no reason why not rematch. A 250lb well prepared Lewis would have been a different thing than a 256.5lb bored Lewis.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 04 May 2005, 12:52

jab wrote:Akinwande is 6 inches shorter.

You don't hear those words very often.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 04 May 2005, 12:55

Golota? He'd shit himself as soon as he set eyes on Valuev.

jab · Post by **jab** » 04 May 2005, 15:46

Kojoe90,

true, man. But then again there arent that many boxers of Valuevs size. Those who are are not any good and are either very chinny or lack stamina.

Nickd,

Golota is not that coawardly man. He may have it hard fighting a guy with big reach and height advantage, decent jab and good power, but he wont chicken in the ring against Valuev. The only guys he froze against were Lewis and to a lesser extent Tyson. But Tyson did most of the damage with his rock hard head, not with the fists. He used that head as a battering ram.
Lewis just blasted him with right crosses.
I dont know why he froze like that agaisnt Lewis. Not that he could win, but if he didnt freeze he would have put a few decent rounds.

I had him winning agaisnt Ruiz. I was thinking, if Ruiz fought like agaisnt Roy or Toney, without his hugging, Golota would have stopped him. So would Rahman.

Valuev is decent and improving, but lets not make him an impossible to beat monster. He is stil lgreen in technique. His lack of amator experience is still observable. He needs 4-5 fights before fighting Golota, Rahman or Vitali. (With Wlad you never know what to expect: he might put on a boxing clinique or he may fall exhausted after 5-6 rounds. He is too unpredictable.)

I think after Akinwande a good trial horse would be Tuaman. The winner of that should be given a shot at Brewster.

black panther · Post by **black panther** » 04 May 2005, 16:12

I think u need to give akinwnde a bit more credit - u guys dont seem to be giving him a chance against valuev but I remember vaguely him giving timo hoffman a boxing lesson and if he can generate enuff pop to get valuev to respect him we cud see an akinwande SD win. But the inactivity wont be helping him at his age and he maybe past it.

jab · Post by **jab** » 04 May 2005, 16:24

black panther wrote:I think u need to give akinwnde a bit more credit - u guys dont seem to be giving him a chance against valuev but I remember vaguely him giving timo hoffman a boxing lesson and if he can generate enuff pop to get valuev to respect him we cud see an akinwande SD win. But the inactivity wont be helping him at his age and he maybe past it.

sure panther,

IF he could punch hard enough to get Valuevs respect he stands a chance, as his boxing skills are better. But he is not exactly a power puncher. And with so much time off at 39, fighting for the first time agaisnt a guy that towers above him it wont be easy. Any heavyweight has a chance. One punch can change the course of a battle.
But I dont expect Val to take chance and bull rush Akinwande like a beginner and walk into some big right hand.

Most likely Val will jab him until he starts fearing the power and then move slowly in with right hands and left hooks. Val is not a fastr starter. He likes to test the waters with the jab from a distance until he determines the reaction speed and power of his foe before getting close. He is definitely the favorite in this one.
Akinwande is not very good agaisnt big punchers. Wasnt it McCall who strethced him with a right hand after being behind on points? He wont be ahead on the cards agaisnt Val.

black panther · Post by **black panther** » 04 May 2005, 16:32

Fair point but from what ive seen of valuev he is quite ponderous so if akinwande's legs hold out he could outmanouvre the beast from the east me thinks. One thing about valuev tho is that he is so big that it seems impossible to hurt him. I would like to see him get hit square by a big puncher - i have a feeling he could take it and it might take a whole load of heavy leather to make a dent in valuev.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 04 May 2005, 16:35

jab wrote:Kojoe90,

true, man. But then again there arent that many boxers of Valuevs size. Those who are are not any good and are either very chinny or lack stamina.

Nickd,

Golota is not that coawardly man. He may have it hard fighting a guy with big reach and height advantage, decent jab and good power, but he wont chicken in the ring against Valuev. The only guys he froze against were Lewis and to a lesser extent Tyson. But Tyson did most of the damage with his rock hard head, not with the fists. He used that head as a battering ram.
Lewis just blasted him with right crosses.
I dont know why he froze like that agaisnt Lewis. Not that he could win, but if he didnt freeze he would have put a few decent rounds.

I had him winning agaisnt Ruiz. I was thinking, if Ruiz fought like agaisnt Roy or Toney, without his hugging, Golota would have stopped him. So would Rahman.

Valuev is decent and improving, but lets not make him an impossible to beat monster. He is stil lgreen in technique. His lack of amator experience is still observable. He needs 4-5 fights before fighting Golota, Rahman or Vitali. (With Wlad you never know what to expect: he might put on a boxing clinique or he may fall exhausted after 5-6 rounds. He is too unpredictable.)

I think after Akinwande a good trial horse would be Tuaman. The winner of that should be given a shot at Brewster.

I'm not saying Valuev is impossible to beat, but how will Golota react when he's across the ring from a guy so much bigger than him. On past form I'd say he might crumble.

Byrd and Ruiz are non punchers and smaller than him.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 04 May 2005, 17:47

Provided that Valuev continues to improve, or is physically capable of improving, I think he can be a genuine contender, if for no other reason that there are no big skilled heavyweights.

At 7 foot at 325lbs, Valuev is a whole different kind of physical specimen. To all intents and purposes, he is a giant, and a relatively athletic one at that. His proportions are normal, and he doesn't appear to suffer from any sort of congenital disorders associated with medical giantism. He's I guess the white version of Shaq O Neal.

I too have my doubts that anyone out there can hurt him. Lewis in his pomp carried enough whack and speed I think, but his sheer physical bulk makes him hard work.

He's not a huge puncher though, and as stated here, Akinwande may have a shot, because he is big and was at last time I saw him, still fairly mobile, though Valuev may be able to just walk him down as Akinwande isn't physically very strong.

jab · Post by **jab** » 05 May 2005, 09:11

black panther wrote:Fair point but from what ive seen of valuev he is quite ponderous so if akinwande's legs hold out he could outmanouvre the beast from the east me thinks. One thing about valuev tho is that he is so big that it seems impossible to hurt him. I would like to see him get hit square by a big puncher - i have a feeling he could take it and it might take a whole load of heavy leather to make a dent in valuev.

You are right, Akinwande (provided his long time off 39 year old legs hold well) should concentrate on outmanouvering Valluev. He should try to use angles and movement, not load up for a lucky shot.

As for hurting Val, outpowering him is not a strategy that will work unless you are Vitali or Wlad (provided he is fit to go the distance and doesnt have another mental collapse). the best strategy is to use good old fashion boxing, movement and angles and many counters.
For anyone other than the Klits, the outpowering thing may not work.
So it has to be technique and boxing skills that will do it.

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 05 May 2005, 09:24

I thought Nobles shuddered Valuev a couple of times. It may just have been the big man shaking with laughter at Nobles' bitch tits, though.

If Valuev was any good he'd be there by now. He just doesn't look to have the ability, although he does obviously have one huge natural asset, which may carry him further. Valuev - either Klitschko would be huge box office from Germany to Mongolia and would also generate US interest but realistcially Valuev would get toasted by anyone half-decent with either the skills of speed to cope with his height and weight.

overhand_right · Post by **overhand_right** » 05 May 2005, 11:37

black panther wrote: One thing about valuev tho is that he is so big that it seems impossible to hurt him. I would like to see him get hit square by a big puncher -.

He got hurt by Gerald Nobles & looked like he was going down but kind of smothered Nobles.

I'm not saying the old man will pull it off but his right hand has been known to do damage in the past (when he plants his feet & lets it go). Hes an under-rated hitter.

Tantum · Post by **Tantum** » 05 May 2005, 11:42

Knock him out you African-Limey cocksucker!!

*jests*

But in all sincerity... Goooooo Henry!

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 May 2005, 14:00

It won't happen. Henry is only fighting for the paydays and I seriously think team Valuev will not want this unessecary risk.

I hope to god, Valuev doesn't do anything in the devision - he is poor.

jab · Post by **jab** » 05 May 2005, 15:31

stujones wrote:It won't happen. Henry is only fighting for the paydays and I seriously think team Valuev will not want this unessecary risk.

I hope to god, Valuev doesn't do anything in the devision - he is poor.

Why do you hope Val does nothing in the division? He is a nice guy, has a disability and still fights hard to support his wife and little daughter. He never bad mouths anyone, is polite, modest, never turned down any fight, no matter how crappy the purse. Wants to improve and is the busiest top 30 heavy.

He has a right to make a living, right? He may make it or he may not. But why pray that he should fail?

I dont like his style that much, but I respect a guy who tries hard, is clean and is both modest and wants to improve. Why be so much agaisnt this guy?

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 05 May 2005, 17:52

What's his disability, aside from only being able to mate with female blue whales?

Tantum · Post by **Tantum** » 05 May 2005, 17:58

Do you speak from personal experience, James?

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 May 2005, 18:18

Sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that. Its just I don't think Valuev is the real deal, far from it. If he wins a world title then the devision is even worse than I thought.

I didn't mean it personally, I hope he earns some big bucks and does well in life. However, I just don't rate him as a fighter at all.

I have said the same about the Klitchskos aswell. I do like the fact that we have an educated world champ but neither are in the same league as champs gone by and the I don't want them to be champ. Not because I have something against them personally or think they are terrible fighters, I just hope to god (my words about Valuev) there are better fighters than these.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 05 May 2005, 18:33

I think he's partially deaf. Like almost completely.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 05 May 2005, 18:41

Tantum wrote:Do you speak from personal experience, James?

killer whales and porpoises at a push, but boy do they squeal....