07.10.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: In his first major market American debut, Nikolay Valuev had no issues in dispatching Monte Barrett over 11 identically low action rounds. Basically, even though you guys may misconstrue this as bias, it was because Barrett clinched any time Valuev got close to him. It is hard to blame him though since he was always a limited fighter and he did the best he could with what he was given. For his part Valuev with an apparent look of boredom did not get overexcited and worked the jab straight right until a monster shot in the 11th finally put the absolutely spent Barrett down as he could not get his arms around Valuev in a clinch fast enough.
Really, fans should not get on Valuev’s case for being boring in this fight, much like they should not have gotten on Calvin Brock’s case when he beat Timur Ibragimov in an even less interesting bout. Nikolay did the right thing by pacing himself because as most critics and journalists note, guys that big have to watch how many punches they throw.
This is also why Valuev does not put much mustard, by turning his body, into his shots and depends on arm punching and mass to tire the fighter out and do the damage. Barrett, for his part, did connect on occasion, but as most fans note it’s a decent size target he was aiming at.
I feel Nikolay was looking to get Barrett into exchanges so he could land the necessary punches, but Barrett knew he was outgunned even on the inside which is why he grabbed whenever, he was stalked, quite craftily, into the corner.
Another thing, I want to note is I don’t feel it was necessary to risk expanding energy on a fighter looking to grab and survive. Which is why I don’t agree with Manvel Gabrielyan’s instructions of attacking with combinations seeing as Barrett was not presenting a good enough target to land those punches and they would seem a somewhat unnecessary expansion of energy. Had the fight went on, Valuev would win a comfortable decision and as I always say, the public won’t be impressed anyway in a fight like this so better to check your stamina one more time. Winning a decision is much better from a technical standpoint, even though for marketing purposes nothing beats a KO 1.
Congratulations to Nikolay Valuev on a solid effort against a solid gameplan from a somewhat limited fighter. Now the fans have some idea and know what to expect and we shall see what comes of it in the future.