By Rick Reeno
The boxing world went wild when Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) recently revealed in the press that he was offered a crack at WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs). The fight is far from done, but Holyfield leaked the information, in a strategic move, to create the predictable media frenzy that broke out. The press went wild, for better or worse, over the near 46-year-old former champ going up against a seven-foot, 300-pound, once-beaten fighter.
In reality, Holyfield is just one of several names that were being considered for Valuev's December defense. Sauerland Event was not exactly thrilled with Holyfield taking it upon himself to go public with the information and making it appear like he was the sole candidate for the fight. At the same time, I hear the guys at Sauerland were surprised at the amount of media coverage.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Holyfield's chances of fighting Valuev are really in the hands of promoter Don King. Valuev is co-promoted by King and German-based Sauerland Event. King is not exactly thrilled with the idea of Valuev fighting Holyfield, because Holyfield is not a King fighter. King would much rather have one of the dozen or so heavyweights in his own stable face Valuev.
