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Giant Russian heavy Nikolay Valuev won a majority decision over American Larry Donald and thus retained the WBA I/C title in the mainevent at the soldout EWE Arena. This was also a WBA eliminator. Valuev wins the right to face champion John Ruiz.
The fight was close and difficult to score. At the end, Ove Ovesen from Denmark had it 115-113 Valuev, Guy Jutras, Canada had it 114-114 while Japanīs Takeshi Shimakawa came in with an out of line 117-112 score for Valuev.
There were no knockdowns and little drama as Valuev plugged away behind his poking jab and appeared a bit flat. Donald took his time to get warmed up - and blew the fight in those early rounds - but began to score with a sneaky, precise right in the midrounds. Valuev was badly cut over the left eye and seemed to have all sorts of problems. But somehow he found out how he could block the right in the ninth and the tide turned again with the stronger Valuev putting pressure on his tiring opponent. Both tried hard in the last but Donald looked the sharper. At ringside everyone had it close with a draw or a point either way. The crowd booed the decision but it was very close.
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The fight was close and difficult to score. At the end, Ove Ovesen from Denmark had it 115-113 Valuev, Guy Jutras, Canada had it 114-114 while Japanīs Takeshi Shimakawa came in with an out of line 117-112 score for Valuev.
There were no knockdowns and little drama as Valuev plugged away behind his poking jab and appeared a bit flat. Donald took his time to get warmed up - and blew the fight in those early rounds - but began to score with a sneaky, precise right in the midrounds. Valuev was badly cut over the left eye and seemed to have all sorts of problems. But somehow he found out how he could block the right in the ninth and the tide turned again with the stronger Valuev putting pressure on his tiring opponent. Both tried hard in the last but Donald looked the sharper. At ringside everyone had it close with a draw or a point either way. The crowd booed the decision but it was very close.
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