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| And you thought Holyfield was a big guy [AFP] |
WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev won a majority points decision against four-times world champion Evander Holyfield to end the American's hopes of becoming the oldest title-holder in history.
Holyfield, 46, made use of his greater mobility and experience to confound those who had criticised the supposedly one-sided nature of the bout, with one of the three judges even awarding him a draw.
Solid
However, the other two sided with Valuev, who had controlled most of the fight with some solid but unspectacular jabs, giving the 2.13-metre tall Russian victory by 116-112 and 115-114 points.
"I saw it the other way from the judges but I'm not disappointed by my performance," Holyfield said on Saturday.
"He's a tough opponent, the sheer size of him is of course the main factor but he fights well with it too and that's the problem."
Holyfield, who entered the ring a staggering 44 kilos lighter than Valuev as well as being 11 years his senior, was the clear favourite of the Swiss crowd and there were loud boos when the decision was announced.
Russian untroubled
Despite a lively start and some late lunges in the last two rounds, the former champion was generally unable to trouble the Russian.
Valuev had plenty of chances to make the fight even more one-sided but failed to land more than a few glancing blows on two or three occasions when Holyfield left himself open.
By the eighth round, Holyfield appeared to be tiring, allowing Valuev to take steady control of the fight before fending off the American's late attempts to swing the contest his way.
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