David Haye vs. Nicolay Valuev: Results: Haye wins majority decision

#25 David Haye takes on #3 Nicolay Valuev for the WBA title. Haye is looking to join the top 5 in the SportsRatings rankings with a win; Valuev hopes to hold on to his #3 rating.

It will be Haye's speed vs. Valuev's size. Valuev at 7 feet tall has a strong chin and a knack for winning close, controversial decisions, especially in Germany where this fight is taking place. Primarily a jabbing fighter, Valuev doesn't have the power you'd expect of a big man but with 320 pounds behind his arms even a jab can cause damage.

Haye has become as famous for his mouth as his boxing. After dominating the cruiserweight division Haye moved up to heavyweight and beat Monte Barrett, giving him a 2-0 record among registered heavyweights. Haye had great power for a cruiserweight but hurting Valuev will be a challenge. One huge advantage he will have is speed, as he may be the fastest heavyweight currently fighting.

Undercard results so far:

• Kubrat Pulev defeats #105 Gbenga Oloukun in a 6-round unanimous decision

Unheralded Pulev, only 2-0 coming in, will be in next month's Top 100

• Edmund Gerber KO #67 Shawn McLean in round one

McLean, only 4-5 now, burst upon the scene by handing Faruq Saleem his first loss; now he is easily handled in the first round Gerber, a 9-0 German fighter. Doesn't reflect well on Saleem!

• #78 Robert Helenius TKO #52 Taras Bidenko in the 4th round

Another slight upset, as Helenius remains unbeaten at 10-0 as he steps up his level of competition. A big, strong fighter with a pretty bright future.

• Alexander Frenkel TKO #347 Kelvin Davis in the 1st round

No surprise here; since dropping to cruiserweight Davis has been a consistent loser, including 6 fights in a row, while Frenkel moves to 21-0. Frenkel is unranked as he hasn't fought any heavyweight opponents.

• #53 John Ruiz TKO Adnan Serin in round 7

Ruiz doesn't help himself in the ratings for beating Serin, but keeps himself fresh for his guaranteed challenge to the winner of Valuev/Haye.

• #64 Sergei Lyakhovich vs. Jeremy Bates: cancelled? or may be after the main event?

Haye and Valuev are being introduced; fight will start in about 10 minutes. Haye looks focused. Valuev looks giant as usual. His shockingly hot wife is at ringside.

Round by round summary:

1. Haye keeping his distance early, little contact in the first minute. Haye still trying to find the right distance, Valuev trying to jab but Haye staying out of range. One body shot from Haye; trying to stay off ropes. Hardly anything landed all round, much like the Holyfield fight. Hard to give this one to Haye but Valuev landed nothing. Haye 10-9
2. Round 2 much like round one. Lots of moving around, not a lot of action of punches connecting. To be fair this one should go to Valuev. 10-9, Overall 19-19
3. Still more non-action. If the fight keeps going like this it will be another Holyfield-like decision.  I can't score fights like this, something has to happen. 10-10, overall 29-29
4. At least in the early rounds Haye is not "taking the fight to Valuev." Maybe his strategy is to wear the champ down by moving a lot in the early rounds, then attack later? Let's hope so. Valuev keeps trying to trap him by the ropes but Haye is having nothing to do with that. Still, Valuev is the more active his round. There's not much else to score by. Haye occasionally bursts in for a body shot or flurry but it doesn't appear anything's connecting. Valuev 10-9, overall 39-38 Valuev.
5. Haye is doing far less than even Holyfield did, and Valuev is hitting Haye less than he hit Holyfield. Haye is even avoiding the jab at all costs. I'm not sure if Haye thinks he can win on points, or if he's thinking later round KO? Because a points win is questionable in Germany to start with, and morese when he literally gives no reason to be winning rounds. Valuev actually connected a few punches late in the round. Valuev 10-9, overall: Valuev 49-47
6. Valuev missing with everything as Haye stays out of range. Haye keeping his guard down but he's three feet out of range. Haye jumps in for a few body shots; Valuev tried to corner him. Haye with a right cross. Each punch connected is an event in this fight. Haye might have taken this one. 10-9. Overall Valuev 58-57
7. Haye is not winning many converts with the fight. More slow, boring action for most of the round. Finally near the end they exchange a bit; Haye might have been slightly cut on the eye, hard to tell from which shot but Valuev hit him flush on an exchange, and Haye got in a few shots as well that made Valuev shake his head. 10-10, overall 68-67 Valuev.
8. The fight settles back to its normal, boring self, with Haye out of reach and Valuev unable to close the distance or trap Haye. Good Haye counters at the end, Valuev chasing him down. Haye 10-9 just for the end. Overall 77-77, because this fight is unscorable.
9. Last 1/3 of the fight, will Haye break out a new strategy? Because he can't be thinking he's going to win the way he's going. Didn't he watch the Holyfield fight? Maybe so, and that's what he's copying. He certainly hasn't done what Chagaev did against Valuev. Valuev landed a jab and Haye had his best counter of the night; Valuev was unfazed though. Haye wins for the one combo he had the whole round. Haye 10-9, overall Haye 87-86.
10. A little more urgency from both fighters, but not resulting in more punches connecting. Only the last 10 seconds saw much action, with Valuev chasing a bit faster and some wild punches from both sides. 10-10, overall Haye 97-96
11. Valuev chasing; Haye didn't throw a punch in the first minute of the round. Haye just can't solve the problem of Valuev's size and reach, and Valuev can't deal with Haye's elusiveness. Haye seems to think he won that round but he ran for most of it and Valuev may have gotten the better of the exchanges. Valuev 10-9, just so that the fight is tied so the last round seems exciting. 106-106
12. More dancing from Haye. Valuev looks like he wants to hit Haye. Valuev with a wild swing that misses. Haye misses with his own big punch. Haye with a good counter. Haye connects with his best punches of the night, finally being aggressive. Hits Valuev in the back of the head. Connects again--why wasn't he doing this all night? Easily Haye's best round. He had Valuev staggered for a second. Haye 10-9, overall Haye 116-115

The scoring could easily go either way, even without the Germany advantage Valuev enjoys. It certainly didn't look like more of a win than Holyfield seemed to have, and was well short of Chagaev's win. Chagaev had several rounds as good as Haye's 12th round.

Basically, the winner will be whoever they want to hold the title. Haye fought a boring fight for 11 rounds before finally doing in the 12th what he claimed he would do for the whole match: fight rather than run. And it worked for him. Haye seems confident of getting the decision; I wouldn't be. Neither outcome would surprise me at all, though if Haye wins I will be a bit amazed.

First card: 114-114

Second and Third Cards: 116-112 116-112: David Haye

Haye gets the decision. WOW.

Haye gets a belt but won't win many fans with his performance. Only for a few moments in the 12th round did he take the fight to Valuev. Other than that he was scared of even Valuev's jab. Valuev couldn't get close enough to even get the few jabs he got against Holyfield.