Remembering: Evander Holyfield vs. Nikolay Valuev

[Ruthless-RKO]

On December 20, 2008 at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield challenged heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev, from St. Petersburg, Russia, for his WBA title. The Real Deal is the real deal and was 42-9-2 going in. The giant Valuev, the quintessential big man who fights like a small man, was 49-1. The fight was scheduled for 12 rounds, and the final verdict was disputed…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdjqMgCfIbE

Evander Holyfield: "I thought I did everything necessary to win. I followed the game plan, I didn't get drawn into a toe-to-toe slugfest and I kept him off-balance for much of the fight. I feel I won more rounds than he did. . . . I have a history of proving people wrong and, although I didn't get the decision tonight, I'll make the adjustments that are necessary and go again for another belt. Hopefully, I can get another title shot."

Nikolay Valuev: "Holyfield did very well and I'm proud to have fought him, but I know that I won the fight."

Promoter Wilfried Sauerland: "Holyfield won the first six rounds and Valuev won the last six. But Holyfield, as the challenger, did not do enough to win the fight."

[Keko]

Evander sure
I watched the fight live and there is no doubt who was better this evening. The whole hall was in shock after the bad decision.

[gregor]

Holyfield was robbed, though in retrospect it could be good for him - with WBA belt, it is almost guaranteed he would've fought a couple more fights on top level, when in reality he should be retired long ago.

[crusader]

IMO the robbery cries were overblown. Evander started strong but threw next to nothing in the second half, while Valuev kept plugging away with the jab in a fight where hardly anything else was happening. The Showtime commentators kept singling Valuev out for how poor his workrate was (and many others parroted this), but after questioning their assertions I compiled my own punch stats, and it was clear that he threw significantly more in almost every round.

Evander definitely had a strong case for winning, but I think there was a lot of a sentimental cheerleading occuring.

[Ruthless-RKO]

IMO the robbery cries were overblown. Evander started strong but threw next to nothing in the second half, while Valuev kept plugging away with the jab in a fight where hardly anything else was happening. The Showtime commentators kept singling Valuev out for how poor his workrate was (and many others parroted this), but after questioning their assertions I compiled my own punch stats, and it was clear that he threw significantly more in almost every round.

Evander definitely had a strong case for winning, but I think there was a lot of a sentimental cheerleading occuring.

Jus as Sauerland said

[BoxBuzz]

Lot's of opinions being expressed these days on certain iconic type of matchups.....this may be one of them.

I'm no expert but it looks like Valuev is a lot taller than Evander.

On the other hand, Evander was certainly older, more experienced..I suppose.

But then again....Evander was aging out...or was he?

So....is this a Tall Tale?, or a Swan Song?

You decide.

[Rexob]

Holyfield won that fight.

[Caractacus]

what i remember about watching that fight
was it was one of the few non-major fights I had a chance to see on pay-per-view on my local satellite dish,
and when it came on (live) I couldnt believe how bad the visual image was on my TV screen.
looked like someone from ringside with a cheap-assed smart phone was transmitting the signal to the satellites across the nation (USA).

[Bodyshot3]

Not one of the division's finest hours.

[hhaehre]

Holyfield won, but the fight was so crappy that it wouldn't have bothered me if they'd scored it for Wilt

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- The ol' fool Field was brought in to lose by King for $75,000.

Brand against Ward had more credibility except no champ could fight field in the states because he was so shot he lost his liscense. Valuev is a higher order being than most of the the two bit punks here posing as boxing experts.

He was forced by King, so the deal was not hurt doddering fool. Valuev debuted in Berlin against a savvy 38 fight vet giving good work to era champ/contender types and got him out much faster. IceJohn Sculley saw him a few years later and said he was the fastest big man he ever saw.

He had every punch, stamina and never hurt. His only two losses chagaev and Haye were hospitalized with rope burns on their backs and blisters on their chicken feet.

Like Wilt stated, "nobody roots for a giant" and most of you proven nobodies to ever even think this was a real fight, just pitiful.

[Tomasino]

- The ol' fool Field was brought in to lose by King for $75,000.

Brand against Ward had more credibility except no champ could fight field in the states because he was so shot he lost his liscense. Valuev is a higher order being than most of the the two bit punks here posing as boxing experts.

He was forced by King, so the deal was not hurt doddering fool. Valuev debuted in Berlin against a savvy 38 fight vet giving good work to era champ/contender types and got him out much faster. IceJohn Sculley saw him a few years later and said he was the fastest big man he ever saw.

He had every punch, stamina and never hurt. His only two losses chagaev and Haye were hospitalized with rope burns on their backs and blisters on their chicken feet.

Like Wilt stated, "nobody roots for a giant" and most of you proven nobodies to ever even think this was a real fight, just pitiful.

Wilt

Merry Christmas you deranged, trolling lunatic

[Kalan]

- The ol' fool Field was brought in to lose by King for $75,000.

Brand against Ward had more credibility except no champ could fight field in the states because he was so shot he lost his liscense. Valuev is a higher order being than most of the the two bit punks here posing as boxing experts.

He was forced by King, so the deal was not hurt doddering fool. Valuev debuted in Berlin against a savvy 38 fight vet giving good work to era champ/contender types and got him out much faster. IceJohn Sculley saw him a few years later and said he was the fastest big man he ever saw.

He had every punch, stamina and never hurt. His only two losses chagaev and Haye were hospitalized with rope burns on their backs and blisters on their chicken feet.

Like Wilt stated, "nobody roots for a giant" and most of you proven nobodies to ever even think this was a real fight, just pitiful.

Wilt

Merry Christmas you deranged, trolling lunatic

Like I said Tomasino...You're a brainless troll who lends nothing to any discussion... You're here to irritate and name call, not to offer content.

I disagree mightily with Iceman John Scully.. Valuev out-jabbed a very slow and tentative Holyfield---but he wasn't a fast big man.. David Haye easily out-sped Valuev.. Ruslan Chagaev also beat Valuev and he wasn't particularly fast.. Chagaev lost every round to Wladimir Klitschko before being stopped.

[Tomasino]

- The ol' fool Field was brought in to lose by King for $75,000.

Brand against Ward had more credibility except no champ could fight field in the states because he was so shot he lost his liscense. Valuev is a higher order being than most of the the two bit punks here posing as boxing experts.

He was forced by King, so the deal was not hurt doddering fool. Valuev debuted in Berlin against a savvy 38 fight vet giving good work to era champ/contender types and got him out much faster. IceJohn Sculley saw him a few years later and said he was the fastest big man he ever saw.

He had every punch, stamina and never hurt. His only two losses chagaev and Haye were hospitalized with rope burns on their backs and blisters on their chicken feet.

Like Wilt stated, "nobody roots for a giant" and most of you proven nobodies to ever even think this was a real fight, just pitiful.

Wilt

Merry Christmas you deranged, trolling lunatic

Like I said Tomasino...You're a brainless troll who lends nothing to any discussion... You're here to irritate and name call, not to offer content.

I disagree mightily with Iceman John Scully.. Valuev out-jabbed a very slow and tentative Holyfield---but he wasn't a fast big man.. David Haye easily out-sped Valuev.. Ruslan Chagaev also beat Valuev and he wasn't particularly fast.. Chagaev lost every round to Wladimir Klitschko before being stopped.

Oh yes, you and Broughton bring so much to the forum. The only two imbeciles who think Wilt could beat Ali...I've been contributing to threads for years, people converse with me freely and very rarely am I insulted other than by you and your aliases. You've been exposed so many times by so many posters, I'm amazed you have the thick skin to continue logging in here.

[Kalan]

A lot of Boxing people knew Wilt would destroy Ali, including Cus D'Amato who also predicted Patterson and Tyson would be the youngest world champions and drew up their guide paths... Ali knew Wilt would kill him too. That's why he refused to sign the contract.

Valuev was ponderous, slow, and very hittable... Could never have played basketball in a million years with those knees and no spring... Still won 50 of 52.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Like I said Tomasino...You're a brainless troll who lends nothing to any discussion... You're here to irritate and name call, not to offer content.

I disagree mightily with Iceman John Scully.. Valuev out-jabbed a very slow and tentative Holyfield---but he wasn't a fast big man.. David Haye easily out-sped Valuev.. Ruslan Chagaev also beat Valuev and he wasn't particularly fast.. Chagaev lost every round to Wladimir Klitschko before being stopped.

You disagree with my OPINION? I was there live, right by the ring, he was very fast in person for a man of his size. Im not saying he was Macho Camacho but he certainly wasnt slow like I expected him to be.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

I was at his fight with monte barett. You could time his jab with a sun dial