WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev, a 7-foot, 338-pounder, was impressive in his HBO debut, knocking out Monte Barrett in the 11th round on Saturday night in front of 14,000 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Valuev dropped Barrett in the eighth round for the first time and he closed the show by flooring Barrett twice in the 11th round. Barrett beat the count both times. After he continued to take punishment, Barrett’s trainer James Bashir threw in the towel at 2:12 of the 11th round.
WBC light-heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek retained his title in anotheer war against Paul Briggs. Both fighters had their moments as they did in their first fight. Briggs dropped Adamek with a jab in the first round and the champion lost a point for a low blow in the ninth round. But Adamek did enough to pull out a 114-112, 115-111, 113-113 majority decision.
Here are some quotes from the post-fight news conference provided by HBO:
NIKOLAI VALUEV
“The victory wasn’t easy tonight and Monte Barrett really tried hard. I haven’t fought in the U.S. for a long time so this was a whole new thing for me. To be honest, I was a little nervous. I need to settle down more.
“I knew after the fourth or fifth round I was going to win. I’m never fully satisfied with my performance. My coach said I made a lot of mistakes. I hope to perform even better next time I fight.
“I’ll have to read what the writers think and what the American people have to say. I will not make any forecasts about future opponents.
“I would like to thank Monte and his team for agreeing to the fight. Monte showed me what a great American fighter is all about.
“The last few weeks in America have been great. I began to fall in love with the country and its people.”
TOMASZ ADAMEK
“I’m very happy. It was a long time not being in the ring. It was a long layover that was one year. That’s why I didn’t look so good tonight.
“I thought I hurt him a couple of times. One of the blows was low, the other was borderline.
“I had control of the fight the whole time. I was not hurt at all. My nose was OK. I can’t wait to fight again.
“I want to thank all of my Polish and American fans.”
PAUL BRIGGS
“Look at my face and look at Adamek’s face. I knocked him down. He had a point deduction for low blows.
“I blocked many of his punches but the Polish fans cheered regardless. My only guess would be that the judges were swayed by the Polish fans.
“I’ve never been shy about a challenge. I want to thank HBO for giving an Australian a chance.
“I was really in shape for this fight and I gave it my all. The judges didn’t see it my way but that’s the way it goes.”
