is supposedly the eliminator for the WBA belt and is listed already on boxrec (which means little). If this comes off, I'm thinking I favor Sergei, although I hate his inactivity. He has the style to beat Valuev, incorporating subtle movements to keep the big man off balance, countering effectively with crisp shots and getting out of range, much like Chagaev did. The big question here would be ring rust. It looks like Liakovich isn't taking a tuneup pre-Valuev, which could be a mistake, but all in all, I would have to favor the White Wolf to get it done against plodding and possibly declining Valuev.
I agree. Favoring Sergei if he has overcome getting knocked out of the ring by Shannon and the resulting inactivity. That's a big IF.
Lyakhovich didn't seem great when it came to fighting against a larger, taller opponent. While Valuev is considerably slower than Briggs and lacks the same punching power, he does seem to present problems for Lyakhovich's outside-fighting strengths that carried him to victory against Brewster. That, and the fact that Valuev is not coming off of inactivity and a devastating loss. On an unrelated note, Lyakhovich is a bit of a Beaker lookalike himself.
Valuev has slower hands than briggs...but is much faster and will throw far more punches. Before the briggs fight i would have picked lyachovick. but now I'll pick Valuev by late tko.
I don' wanna start a firestorm but I really think Sergei was intimidated by Briggs. He was willing to trade with Brewster who can hit like a mule but he wanted absolutely no part of Briggs, which is shame cuz he could have easily won that fight. I think Shannon's trashtalking and insults got to him and I read an article somewhere (months after the fact) that suggested the same thing. Now here's the thing...Valuev's intimidation factor is practically gone after his last few performances. Yeah he's huge but he's beatable and he can't crack like Briggs. The only things that would stop Sergei from winning this fight IMO is if he lost another mental battle or if the ringrust was too much.
It will be TKO for Valuev. Problem with Liahovich - he is too tough too stupid. He don't listen to his corner and he standing and traiding when he need to box. Which is a recepie for disaster with Valuev.
I agree, Briggs is a big guy himslef at 6'4 270 but compared to Valuev at 7'1 328 hes a huge ass guy. I see Valuev taken it to Liakhovich and eventually knocking him out in the 6 round, Sergeis chin will never be the same after what Briggs did to him.
I am a still a supporter of Liakhovich, I think he can stay active enough to use his fast hands to pull out a points decision against the Giant. His ring inactivity is disturbing but then again he was coming off a 14 month layoff when he put it all together against Brewster.