Barrett's Trainer: "I Had To Stop It"

By Mark Vester

Trainer Ali Bashir knows his fighter Monte Barrett was very upset when he saw him in jump in to stop the fight in the eleventh round, but he had no choice as he watched a 7'2 giant manhandling Barret, who did not have any legs left after being knocked down twice.

All were surprised that Barrett lasted eleven round with WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev, including the HBO announcers and ringside observers in Chicago's Allstate Arena. Despite being outweighed by 100 pounds, and being nearly a foot shorter, Barrett held his own for several rounds.

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Saturday | Jan 31, 2026

"I thought Monte was in the fight that is why I let it go as far as it could go," Bashir said. I saw that he was tiring and he was hurt and there was no reason to go on. It was just a risky thing at that point, so I stopped the fight."

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