Valuev’s reign will continue

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Undefeated Nikolai Valuev retained the WBA heavyweight championship Saturday night, stopping Monte Barrett in the 11th round.

The largest heavyweight champion ever, the 7-foot, 328-pound Valuev (45-0, 33 knockouts) knocked down Barrett twice in the 11th, and the fight was stopped 2:12 into the round after a left jab left the challenger glassy-eyed and staggering against the ropes.

“This victory wasn’t easy,” Valuev said. “Monte really tried hard. I knew after the fourth or fifth round I would win.”

Valuev floored Barrett in the eighth and pounced on the challenger in the 11th after he tripped. Barrett (31-5) quickly found himself back on the canvas after being knocked down, but got up. He got up again after the second knockdown of the round.

Valuev continued the barrage, and the fight ended when trainer James Ali Basheer jumped into the ring.

After winning the belt on a disputed decision over John Ruiz in Berlin last December, Valuev stopped Jamaican challenger Owen Beck in the third round in Hanover, Germany, in June. The longest reigning heavyweight champ entering the bout, he was fighting for just the third time in the United States and making his first appearance in the country in more than five years. So he considered this an introduction.

As impressions go, this one was not bad.

Barrett, wearing pink gloves that will be auctioned to raise money for breast cancer charities, landed a solid left to the head in the fourth. Valuev’s mouth was bleeding after taking a series of punches in the sixth.

But most of the solid punches Barrett landed barely fazed Valuev.

“He’s a strong guy,” Barrett said. “My feelings are hurt, but I’m OK.”