03.06.06 - By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Let me start out by saying, yes, Owen Beck was not well known, or that accomplished as a fighter, but he was resilient and against Monte Barrett, and Ray Austin, he was not nearly as demolished as he was against the WBA champ, Nikolay Valuev, who made easy work of him. This was quite simply one of the best showcase fights of Valuev’s career, that I have seen. From the start, tt was completely one-sided, with Valuev’s right hand landing viciously and rapidly against Beck’s jaw. When later on following the right, Valuev casually mentioned that he had sseen a hole in Beck’s defense before the fight, I guess nobody on the Beck team found a way to plug that whole up. All three rounds went to Valuev, as he not only demonstrated deadly and calculating punching, but also ring savvy by leaning with his full frame on the smaller Beck. In the second round, what looked like a counter (yes, a counter) right, landed on Beck before he could finish throwing his punch.
The Jamaican went down mid throw, looking like he had been shot by a tranquilizer dart. However, the round was close to ending and Beck was able to survive, which was not as fortunate as one would tend to believe at first glance. In the third, as Valuev fired a left jab, Beck leaned to his right and was on the receiving end of a Valuev right half uppercut, half hook and went down yet again. The punch had no definition simply because Valuev’ was so tall that he had to throw it at a different angle then would a shorter fighter.
Meanwhile, Beck was down on the ground, with the Russian commentator Alexander Belenki, believing the fight should be stopped. Of course, that might be misconstrued as bias, until Beck actually rose to his feet, and looked to be completely out of it, just like Belenki had mentioned. The referee, obviously inexperienced, decided to let the fight go on, but found his wits, as Beck staggered forward, and not so much received but fell right into another Valuev sledgehammer right hand. At that point, the referee wisely concluded the contest, letting Beck survive on his feet, and Valuev win via technical knockout.
After the fight, Valuev thanked the German and Russian fans and was very gracious in victory.