Holyfield submitted an appeal for a rematch with the WBA on Wednesday following the fight on Saturday in Switzerland. Valuev, 35, defeated the 46-year-old American on points in a championship bout where judges voted 114-114, 116-112, 115-114 in favor of Valuev.
"Firstly, our contract does not stipulate that we are obliged to hold a rematch. Secondly, Valuev has to fight [Ruslan] Chagaev. It is still unclear when this bout will take place, but if Chagaev states his readiness to fight, this bout will be a priority," he said.
Valuev, dubbed the Russian Giant, lost his title bout to Ruslan "White Tyson" Chagaev of Uzbekistan, suffering his first and so far only defeat, in April last year. The Russian and the Uzbek later scheduled a rematch, which did not take place due to Chagaev's injury and he was announced champion in recess.
The 30-year-old Uzbek boxer (24-0, 17KOs) is scheduled to face Puerto-Rican Carl Davis Drumond (26-0, 20 KOs) in Mecklenburg, Germany on February 7.
Valuev's promoting company Team Sauerland offered a possible rematch with the American straight after the weekend bout, but after so called insulting remarks made by Holyfield's trainer Tommy Brooks, Wilfried Sauerland said he will reconsider his offer.
Upon filing the appeal on Wednesday, Brooks said in an interview posted on the FightNews.com website that "I think it was just some home cooking for a promoter's fighter. I think somebody was just greasing somebody's palms."
Sauerland was intimidated by the statement from Holyfield's trainer, saying "I cannot comprehend his remarks at all. They are derisive, outrageous and absolutely untrue. I would not have expected such unsporting behavior from him. We offered Holyfield a rematch straight away but now we will have to reconsider it."
Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) said that although he was disappointed it was a good fight, but he was the winner of the bout.
"We're filing a protest that basically says, 'we want you to overturn this.' I just want what's rightfully mine. I didn't lose. I won," Holyfield said.
