According to trainer Freddie Roach, Andrei Arlovski will move into boxing following his matchup with Fedor Emelianenko at the Affliction: Day of Reckoning PPV. Roach already knows who he wants Arlovski to face.

“Andrei’s going into boxing after this,” said Roach. “After we knockout Fedor, I’d like for him to challenege for the heavyweight championship against (WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay) Valuev.”

For Arlovski to transition right into a heavyweight title fight would seem very difficult. Roach does not think such a high caliber opponent would cause any problems for the former UFC heavyweight champion.

“His boxing skills are good enough. He’s the best MMA fighter in the world. Two world champions? It would be huge.” source (five ounces of pain)

Regardless of the of the out-come of this Saturday night's Affliction Mixed Martial Arts Event—which pits "The Pit Bull" Andrei Arlovski against the overrated but always dangerous Fedor Emilianeneko, it seems world class trainer Freddie Roach may have bigger fish to fry; big may be an understatement, this is a whale of a fish named Nicolay Valuev.

At 7'1" and nearly 300lbs, Nikolai Valuev is a monstrous heavyweight who is steadily improving, he recently won a controversial decision against an—old but rugged—former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

I have recently written an article on Valuev and it was a daunting task to try to find a downloaded photo of him that wasn't for sale;  he is now delving into movies and books, and lately it seems the spectacle of Nicolay Valuev is growing in leaps and bounds.

Maybe the monstrous spectacle may become bigger than the the actual skills of this Russian behemoth.

In any event, it looks like the Belorussian Pitbull may be looking to take a bite out of the "increasingly European" heavyweight ranks of professional boxing.

Freddie Roach seems to want to put his newest stable member into the abyss as soon as possible. I think Freddie Roach may be making a hasty mistake to push Arlovski toward a heavyweight title against the modern day version of Primo Carnera.

One reason may be due to the fact that the heavyweight division is dominated now by European fighters. Vladimir klitschko and his brother Vitali are both from Ukraine and Nikolay Valuev is from Russia; another former alphabet champion and top ten fighter Ruslan Chagaev is from Uzbekistan and would also make a worthy opponent for Arlovski.

If I was going to give Andrei any advice though it would be to focus on the task at hand, in other words one Russian at time...recently in an interview with Loretta Hunt  on sherdog.com Andrei stated that he is in no way intimidated by the hype surrounding Fedor, and the mental aspect of his game is 100 %

If Arlovski can beat Emilianenko and then Valuev and win a portion of the heavy weight title, the world will be treated to a history making combat sports spectacle, Arlovski will be the first MMA champion to cross over and win a championship in the boxing ring.

This event may someday be referred to as The Unprovoked Attack Of The Savage Pitbull, lets just hope that Pitbulls dont get banned in the united states.

Steam roller, midnight stroller

I've been told about you

Heart-breaker, Soul-shaker,

Time's come to pay your dues

Now you're messin' with a "son of a bitch"-

Nazereth (Hair Of The Dog)

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