Can Barrett Derail The Seven-Foot Invasion?
Valuev Faces Barrett at Allstate Arena
By Joe Harrison
On Saturday, October 7th, Don King Productions and Sauerland Events will present Big Red October at the Allstate Arena located just outside Chicago, Illinois. In the main attraction, the seven-foot tall Russian, Nikolai Valuev (44-0, 32 KOs), will defend his WBA heavyweight championship against Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett (31-4, 17 KOs). This will be Valuev’s second defense of his title while Barrett will be getting his second consecutive shot at a heavyweight crown.
Last time Valuev fought, he took on Owen “What the Heck” Beck in Hannover, Germany on June 3rd. Nikolai made quick work of Beck, knocking him down once in the 2nd round and again in the 3rd round before the ref called a halt to the twelve-round contest. It was a firm statement to Valuev’s critics, and those who believed that Valuev may be overrated.
Before Valuev became the WBA Heavyweight Champion, he had to face Larry Donald in a WBA eliminator, which took place in Oldenburg, Germany on October 1st of last year. Surprisingly, Donald didn’t have as much of a problem with the giant Russian as most experts predicted. He connected many of his punches and kept the fight extremely close. In the end, the judges favored Nikolai by a majority decision, which set up the showdown between Valuev and the WBA heavyweight champion at that time, John “The Quietman” Ruiz.
It was only two months later, on December 17th, when Valuev and Ruiz faced each other in Berlin, Germany for Ruiz’s title. In what was expected to be a real war, the results were nearly identical to Nikolai’s previous battle. Once again, it was a close fight and Valuev appeared to have difficulty controlling the bout. When the judges gave Valuev the victory by majority decision, his fans booed, showing their disapproval. Later that evening, with his undefeated record still in tact, Valuev’s name was placed in headlines everywhere. Being over 7-feet tall, and nearly 330 pounds, he was now the largest champion in boxing history as well as the first Russian heavyweight champion.
When Valuev faces Barrett, he will be facing a man with a reputation for handing undefeated fighters their first loss. Ironically, one of those fighters was Owen Beck, whom Barrett defeated by a 9th-round TKO on February 5th of ‘05. Before that match, Barrett gave Dominick Guinn his first professional loss by a split decision on March 27th of ’04. Barrett also nearly derailed “Baby” Joe Mesi and handed him his first loss, but Mesi was given the win by a majority decision.
Barrett’s victories over Guinn and Beck helped him land a shot against Hasim “The Rock” Rahman for the WBC “interim” heavyweight championship. The bout took place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on August 18th of last year. It was a very close and unexciting fight between two friends. Neither seemed motivated to inflict pain upon the other. Rahman did just enough to defeat Barrett by a unanimous decision.
Barrett has been inactive since then, but Valuev’s team was looking to move up the ladder in the quality of their opponents, and Barrett seemed more than reasonable. Considering that Barrett is within the same class as of those such as Larry Donald and Hasim Rahman, Valuev may have a lot on his plate come October 7th. The fight will be televised on HBO.
In the co-main event, there will be a rematch between the WBC light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek (30-0, 21 KOs) and top WBC contender Paul Briggs (25-2, 18 KOs). The first time these warriors fought each other, they were at the United Center in May of last year on the undercard of the heavyweight championship fight between Lamon Brewster and Andrew Golota. Although the fans were disappointed to see Golota lose by TKO only 53 seconds into the first round, the Adamek-Briggs clash for the vacant WBC light heavyweight championship was more than satisfying. The fight was clearly a candidate for Fight of the Year.
From the ring of the first bell till the end, both men gave everything they hard, beating each other to a bloody mess. Both fighters had their moments, which made the fight very difficult to score. Although each man was confident that he had won, the majority decision was given to the Polish boxer, Tomasz Adamek.
Feeling robbed, Paul Briggs has been climbing back up the rankings, doing everything possible to land a rematch with Adamek. First, on October 15th of ’05, he faced Etienne Whitaker and won by a 5th round TKO. The match was on the same card as Adamek’s title defense against Thomas Ulrich, in which Adamek won by a 6th round knockout. Next, on June 16th, Briggs had a match with Jose Alberto Clavero. After 5 rounds, Paul was declared the winner once Clavero was disqualified for not coming out of his corner when ordered to do so. Briggs had finally done enough to get his rematch with Adamek.
Also on the undercard, there will be a 10-round heavyweight bout between Chicago’s own Mike Mollo (16-1, 10 KOs) and Tyson-conqueror Kevin McBride (34-4-1, 29 KOs).
Mollo is coming off a 1st-round knockout over Willie Walker back on August 25th at the Aragon Ballroom located in Chicago, Illinios. Walker came out swinging, but Mollo was able to dodge most of the punches and it only took one shot to Walkers face to send him down for the count.
Last May, Mollo was put in the ring with veteran DaVarryl “Touch of Sleep” Williamson. It was definitely a risky fight for Mollo since Williamson was in a much higher class than Mollo’s previous opponents. Also, not only was DaVarryl more experienced, but he had just come back from a world title fight against IBF champ Chris Byrd, and only lost by a close unanimous decision. Many experts felt that Mollo was being pushed up too quickly, but Mollo was convinced that he was ready for the big time.
The fight between Mollo and Williamson took place on the undercard of the De La Hoya/Mayorga fight. Mollo was ready to prove that he was among the elite in the heavyweight division. However, it only took four rounds for Williamson to defeat Mollo by TKO. Perhaps he wasn’t ready for the big time, but he certainly wasn’t going to give up. When he faces Kevin McBride, his chances of success will be higher, and a win could put him back in contention.
McBride’s story is very different. Although Tyson was coming off a loss to Danny Williams in ’04, he was confident that he would punish McBride once they stepped in the ring. During a press conference, when McBride’s manager predicted an easy victory for his fighter, Tyson glared at him and stated, “You’re going to get Kevin killed.”
On June 11th of ’05, Tyson and McBride finally collided. Tyson appeared to be off to a good start, but it wasn’t long before he began to feel fatigued. McBride leaned on Tyson with his 6’6 frame, and man-handled Tyson, pushing him around the ring. After the sixth round, Tyson told his corner that he didn’t wish to continue, and McBride was declared the winner. That evening, Tyson announced his retirement.
Since defeating Tyson, McBride has been awaiting a title-shot. Many experts doubted that beating a washed-up Tyson justified getting a shot at the heavyweight championship. But still, it seemed logical considering that after Danny Williams defeated Tyson, he was immediately got a shot at Vitali Klitschko for his WBC title in ’04. Even though Williams lost to Klitschko by TKO in round 8, there was still the strong possibility of McBride getting a title-shot.
John Ruiz almost made this happen when he considering giving McBride a shot for his WBA title late last year. This actually never happened though, and Ruiz ended up defending his title against Nikolai Valuev instead, where he lost by decision. McBride stayed busy, and fought Byron Polley in Cleveland, Ohio on April 1st. Even after beating Polley by a 4th-round TKO, there was still no sight of a title-shot. So McBride will stay busy, and this means getting past Mike Mollo at the Allstate Arena. It should be quite a war.
Also scheduled to appear on the boxing card, Matt Zegan (37-1, 21 KOs) faces Nate Campbell (28-5-1, 24 KOs) in an IBF lightweight eliminator. There is also the possibility of undefeated heavyweight Bermane Stiverne (7-0, 7 KOs) taking on Charles Brown (6-11-1, 3 KOs) in a 4-round battle.