Nikolai Valuev: Difference between revisions
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*Since 2000, Valuev has been trained by [[Armenian]] coach Manuel Gabrielyan. |
*Since 2000, Valuev has been trained by [[Armenian]] coach Manuel Gabrielyan. |
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Beating [[Rocky Marciano]]'s record |
== Beating [[Rocky Marciano]]'s record == |
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Valuev had said that he wants to beat the ultimate 49-0 record set by boxing legend Rocky Marciano. He has only 4 matches left to go. |
Valuev had said that he wants to beat the ultimate 49-0 record set by boxing legend Rocky Marciano. He has only 4 matches left to go. |
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Revision as of 18:47, 21 January 2007
Nikolai Valuev | |
|---|---|
| File:Valuev Wins.jpg | |
| Born | Nikolai Valuev August 21, 1973 |
| Nationality |  Russian |
| Other names | The Russian Giant; The Beast From the East |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 46 |
| Wins | 45 |
| Wins by KO | 33 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 1 |
Nikolai Valuev (Russian: Николай Валуев; born August 21, 1973) is the first Russian professional heavyweight boxing champion and the current holder of the WBA title. His alias used to be "The Beast from the East" but he now prefers to be styled "The Russian Giant". With his height and weight he is often considered to be a real-life version of the Rocky IV Villain; Ivan Drago.
Valuev is the tallest and heaviest recognized champion to this day, standing at 213 cm (about 7 ft) tall [1] and weighing in at 145-150 kg (320-330 lb). Some say he is actually 350-360 pounds.
In 1993 Valuev became a professional boxer and he won the WBA title December 17 2005 with a points decision over American John Ruiz. He successfully defended the title 3 June 2006 against Owen Beck, October 8 2006 against Monte Barrett and 21 January 2007 against Jameel McCline.
Boxing career
In 1993, Nikolai became a pro-boxer and had his debut match against American John Morton. 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. In August 2005 Valuev was rated by major boxing sanctioning bodies as #2 by the WBA, #8 by the WBC, and #6 by the IBF. On December 17, 2005 he won the WBA World Heavyweight title with a points decision over American John Ruiz.
Title bout vs. Ruiz
On December 17, 2005, Valuev squared off with WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, and won a controversial twelve-round majority-decision. This victory came after narrowly defeating Larry Donald on points in the title elimination bout. These two fights were seen as controversial, being quite close, and showing Valuev's vulnerability to opponents who are capable of getting inside, while also able to avoid his trademark slow knockout punches. In the last days of December 2005, however, it was revealed that he had been fighting Ruiz one-handed, due to an injury of his right hand. This had been carefully concealed by Valuev's camp, in fear of losing the chance of fighting for a world title.
Title defense vs. Beck
On Saturday 3 June 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 third-round KO in Hannover, Germany. Before this fight, the small sized Beck had only fought one contender, where he was knocked out by Monte Barrett.
Title defense vs. Barrett
On Saturday 7 October 2006, Valuev fought Monte Barrett and defeated him with a technical knockout in the 11th round, for his (Valuev's) 45th win. Barrett was knocked down in the eighth and eleventh rounds, but managed to get up. After being knocked down for the third time in the eleventh round, his trainer James Ali Basheer jumped into the ring to stop the fight.
Title defense vs. McCline
On January 20th, 2007, Valuev fought Jameel McCline (38-6-3, 23 KO’s) in St. Jakob-Halle, Basel, Switzerland. Valuev won the match, and defended his title, when McCline suffered a dislocated knee in the third round when he tripped and fell. According to WBA rules, if there is no punch landed by the fallen boxer's opponent when he suffers an in-ring accident, the fight is declared null, and in this case there was no visible punch landed by Valuev in the moment of McCline's accident, making this a victory by the Russian human mountain.
Record
Valuev's current record stands at 46-0-0-0 with 33 KOs. Valuev is rated first by fightnews.com (higher than Hasim Rahman, the former WBC champion). Valuev is also ranked first on the IBO ranking list IBO boxing rankings—higher than Lamon Brewster (U.S.), Hasim Rahman (U.S.), Kirk Johnson, (CAN) and James Toney (U.S.). Boxrec.com ranks Nikolai Valuev #1 in the world.
Against Ruiz, two judges favoured 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 (see [3]).
Biography
Valuev was born on 21st of August, 1973 in Leningrad, now Saint-Petersburg in a Russian-Tatar family. He has a wife, Galina, and a 5-year-old son, Grisha. During his youth, he played basketball, and was also a discus thrower.
Car parking incident
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 had 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. [4] 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. [5]
Trivia
- Although Valuev is the heaviest and tallest heavyweight champion in history there are other less successful boxers of similar stature in recorded history: Ewart Potgieter, was 219 cm (7 ft 2 in) and 152 kg (335½ pounds) at weigh-in for his match with James Parker in 1955. George Mitu, Jim Cully (7 ft 2 in, 219 cm), and John Rankin (7 ft 4 in, 226 cm, fought only one bout which he won) were all over 7 feet (213 cm), and Jimmy Black weighed in at 163 kg (360 pounds) prior to his match against Claude McBride on 1 June 1971. [2]
- Since 2000, Valuev has been trained by Armenian coach Manuel Gabrielyan.
Beating Rocky Marciano's record
Valuev had said that he wants to beat the ultimate 49-0 record set by boxing legend Rocky Marciano. He has only 4 matches left to go.
Never knocked down
Valuev has NEVER been nocked down let alone nocked out in his boxing career, while winning most of his matches by KO or TKO!