Ringside Report has an article suggesting that 7 foot tall former heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev could be the Kimbo Slice of boxing:

Right now, Valuev has a record of 48-1, 34 KO’s, and will fight for the WBA Title, most likely against Ruiz in a rematch, as soon as possible. Should Valuev win, and I think that most expect him to, he will hopefully be given the credit and a chance to become a bigtime hit. If Kimbo Slice can make the MMA millions of dollars, then Valuev can certainly bring some much needed life into boxing. If Chagaev, Klitschko, and many others are avoiding him, then there might be a reason. He may just be the real deal.

They also give this assessment of Valuev’s skills, which we’ll discuss further in a moment. It’s part of the problem with the Kimbo comparison:

Valuev is seven feet tall and weighs 325 pounds and has been slowly improving as a fighter. Not only is a huge fighter, he is also durable and relaxed. I haven’t seen this level of confidence since George Foreman’s comeback, where Valuev just follows his opponent around the ring, sure of himself and at ease. This mentality has made him a formidable force in the division and one that has been avoided by many. Although he is often called a sideshow freak or a novelty, most know the truth that he is a legitimate contender that has worked his way to the top by beating some respected boxers.

Valuev is a surprisingly skilled fighter for someone his size and, as the article suggests, is very ‘at ease’ in the ring. The problem is that the writer is making the Kimbo comparison based on size alone–for whatever reason, Kimbo has that ‘it’ factor. He also has the same primal charisma that Mike Tyson did at his peak. Valuev doesn’t have this–he’s by all accounts a good guy and a skilled boxer but to have the same mainstream appeal that Kimbo does you really have to be an aggressive power punching KO artist. As the writer notes–and likely to his credit as a boxer–Valuev is content to fight a ‘war of attrition’. He’s able to do this due to his insane reach, impressive conditioning and decent counterpunching skills. Those are all good things for a boxer to have, but they don’t necessarily translate into the same mainstream pop culture popularity that Kimbo has achieved.

The first time you see Valuev in the ring its a pretty incredible sight due to his size. That quickly goes away, however, and he’s just another boxer. The fact that he can be viewed as ‘just another boxer’ and not a novelty act is a testimony to his talent and skill, but that doesn’t translate to the crossover popularity that Kimbo enjoys.

The Incredible Hulk of Boxing @ Ringside Report