"The Russian Giant" "The Real Deal" 7'0" 6'2" Date 20 December 2008 | 49–1 42–9–2 310 lbs 214 lbs | |
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Title(s) on the line WBA Heavyweight Championship Location Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland | ||
Nikolai Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 20, 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Contents
Background
After only winning two of his last nine fights, including a three fight losing streak at the end (going 2–5–2 from 1999 to 2004), four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was suspended indefinitely by the New York State Athletic Commission amid health concerns following a poor performance against Larry Donald in which the then 42-year-old Holyfield was nearly swept by Donald on all three judge's scorecards. Following the suspension, Holyfield was out of boxing for 21 months before announcing his return in June 2006 to take on Jeremy Bates in August of that year. Holyfield would win the first four fights of his comeback and eventually landed a world title shot against WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov on October 13, 2007, but lost by a lopsided unanimous decision. Holyfield would take a year-long layoff, but eventually accepted an offer from WBA heavyweight Nikolai Valuev to challenge him for the title on December 20, 2008. Valuev was in his second reign as WBA heavyweight champion, having defeated John Ruiz to claim the vacant title in his previous fight. As in virtually every fight he had been in, the 7 foot, 310 pound Valuev had a distinct size advantage as he was ten inches taller and nearly 100 pounds heavier than Holyfield. Holyfield accepted a pay day of around $700,000, his lowest purse for a heavyweight title fight and a farcry from the record $35 million he had earned for his second fight against Mike Tyson.
The Fight
Though the fight was largely uneventful and featured no knockdowns, Holyfield narrowly missed making history by winning his fifth world title and becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history (surpassing George Foreman) and instead lost to Valuev by a closely contested, and disputed, majority decision. Holyfield kept his distance from Valuev for most of the fight but appeared to clearly outpunch Valuev, who did not sustain much offense during the fight. Nevertheless, when the fight went to the official scorecards, two judges had Valuev winning by scores of 115–114 (six rounds to five, one even) and 116–112 (eight rounds to four), while the third had the fight even at 114–114 (six rounds apiece).
The decision was controversial and blame with veteran announcer Nick Charles stating "That is the worst display of officiating I have ever seen." ESPN's Dan Rafael wrote "you can make more of a legitimate argument that Holyfield won all 12 rounds than you can make one that Valuev claimed at least seven to take the fight."
