Nikolai Valuev

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Nikolay Valuev
Statistics
Real name	Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev
Nickname(s)	The Russian Giant
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	2.16 m (7 ft 1 in)
Nationality	Russian
Birth date	August 21, 1973 (1973-08-21) (age 34)
Birth place	Leningrad, USSR
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	50
Wins	48
Wins by KO	34
Losses	1
Draws	0
No contests	1

Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev (Russian: Николай Сергеевич Валуев; born August 21, 1973), was the first Russian professional heavyweight boxing champion and the former holder of the WBA title between December 17, 2005, and April 15, 2007. He formerly had the nickname "The Beast from the East" but he now prefers to be styled "The Russian Giant."

Valuev is the tallest and heaviest recognized champion to this day and is also a modern nerandothal standing at 7 ft, 1 inch tall^[1] and weighing in at 144.7 kg (319 lb/22.79 st) to 151.0 kg (333 lb/23.78 st). ^[2]

Valuev became a professional boxer and he won the WBA title December 17, 2005, with a tremendous victory over American John Ruiz. He successfully defended the title three times. His record then stood at perfect 46 wins, no draws, no defeats and one no contest, and he was only four victories away of surpassing legendary Rocky Marciano's record. In a fight on April 14, 2007, however, he lost his title to Ruslan Chagaev by majority decision.

Recently he also started an acting career.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Boxing career 2.1 Title bout vs. Ruiz 2.2 Title defense vs. Beck 2.3 Title defense vs. Barrett 2.4 Title defense vs. McCline 2.5 Failed mandatory title defense vs. Chagaev 2.6 Post-championship career 3 Acting Career 4 Outside the ring 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Valuev was born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg. Valuev is of Russian descent, but he also had a Tatar grandfather.^[3][4][5] He has a wife, Galina, and two young children, a son and a daughter. Valuev is a Russian Orthodox Christian.^[6] During his youth he played water polo and basketball, and was also a discus thrower.

[edit] Boxing career

After an amateur career where he had a record of 23-0, with 16 knockouts, he became a professional fighter in 1993. His debut match was against American John Morton, and Valuev beat him by knockout in the second round. In 1999 he captured the Russian heavyweight title and in 2000 he won a Pan-Asian title.

Valuev propelled himself into a position to fight for a world title with victories over Bob Mirovic, Otis Tisdale, Paolo Vidoz, Gerald Nobles, Attila Levin, and Clifford Etienne.

[edit] Title bout vs. Ruiz

On December 17, 2005, Valuev squared off with WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, and won a twelve-round majority-decision. Two judges favored Valuev by scores of 116-114 and 116-113, while the third saw the fight as a 114-114 draw — enough to give Valuev the title.^[7] This victory came after narrowly defeating Larry Donald on points in the title elimination bout.

[edit] Title defense vs. Beck

On Saturday June 3, 2006, in his first defence of the WBA Heavyweight Championship, Nikolai Valuev (then 44-0, 33 KOs) defeated challenger Owen Beck (25-3, 18 KOs) by a third-round technical knockout in Hannover, Germany. Before this fight, the small sized Beck had only fought one contender, where he was knocked out by Monte Barrett in 9 rounds.

[edit] Title defense vs. Barrett

On Saturday October 7, 2006, Valuev fought Monte Barrett and defeated him with a technical knockout in the 11th round, for Valuev's 45th win. Barrett was knocked down twice in the 8th and once in the 11th round, but managed to get up. After being knocked down for the final time in the eleventh round, his trainer James Ali Basheer jumped into the ring to stop the fight.

[edit] Title defense vs. McCline

On January 20, 2007, Valuev fought Jameel McCline (38-6-3, 23 KO's) in St. Jakob-Halle, Basel, Switzerland. Valuev won the match, successfully defending his title, after McCline was not able to continue the bout after injuring his knee when throwing a punch near the end of the 3rd round.

[edit] Failed mandatory title defense vs. Chagaev

In the tournament to determine who would next challenge Valuev for his title, Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan beat John Ruiz, who lost his championship to Valuev in 2005. The title defense was held on April 14, 2007. Chagaev defeated Valuev by a majority decision (117-111, 115-113 and 114-114).

[edit] Post-championship career

On September 29, 2007, Valuev won against Jean-Francois Bergeron in Oldenburg, Germany, by a 12-round unanimous decision (118-111, 118-111 and 118-111).^[8]

On February 16, 2008, Valuev defeated Sergei Liakhovich by unanimous decision.^[9]This victory earned Valuev the right to face Ruslan Chagaev in a rematch with the only man to have defeated him in his professional career or amateur. He is scheduled to face Chagaev for his WBA title on July 5, 2008. ^[10]

[edit] Acting Career

Valuev's first role in a movie was a cameo appearance in the German film 7 Zwerge – Der Wald ist nicht genug in 2006.

In 2008 Valuev played the main role in the film Stonehead by Philip Yankovskiy, playing an ex-boxer who lost his memory.^[11]

[edit] Outside the ring

In January 2006 Valuev was accused of assault by a security guard at the Spartak Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The guard, Yuri Sergeyev, claims Valuev's wife parked her car inappropriately, and a request to move the car led to an argument. Sergeyev alleges Valuev then appeared and assaulted him. Valuev however said his wife was crying and that he only grabbed the guard by the collar, adding "If I were to have actually hit him, as some people are saying, the consequences for this person would have been more serious. I think I acted as any normal man in my place would have done." No criminal investigation was ever launched by local police.^[12] Sergeyev was admitted to City Hospital No 3 where he was diagnosed as suffering from "closed craniocerebral injury, thorax and cerebral contusion." He threatened to launch a private civil suit against Valuev.^[13]He won the suit, and Valuev has now been ordered to pay 130,000 roubles (5,400 USD) in damages.

Valuev has written a book in Russian called "My 12 Rounds", with the help of a prominent Russian journalist Konstantin Osipov. The book discusses his life in general and his boxing career in particular.

Valuev eats three kilos of meat daily, according to Pravda.ru

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Professional boxing record for Nikolai Valuev from Boxrec
• Valuev interview
• Valuev interview
• (German) Personal page from promoter
• (Russian) Official personal site (English)
• Boxing-Encyclopedia

Preceded by John Ruiz

WBA Heavyweight Champion December 17, 2005–April 14, 2007

Succeeded by Ruslan Chagaev