Nikolai Valuev
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 | 45 |
| Wins | 44 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| 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."
Valuev is the tallest and heaviest recognized champion of all time, standing at 2.13 m (7') tall and weighing as much as 150 kg (330 lb). There are however other less successful boxers of similar stature in recorded history: George Mitu, Jim Cully (7'2) and John Rankin (7'4, fought only one bout which he won) were all above 7 feet and Jimmy Black weighed in at 360 pounds prior to his match against Claude McBride on 1 June 1971. [1] [2]
Biography
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.
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 the 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 (44-0, 32 KOs) destroyed challenger Owen Beck (25-3, 18 KOs) by third round KO in Hannover, Germany. Beck tried to crowd Valuev, smothering the seven-footer's punches, but Valuev had some success landing his jab and rocked Beck with a hard right in the first round. Valuev dropped Beck with a right hand late in the second round and nearly finished him off. Valuev dropped Beck again with a right uppercut in third and the bout was halted as soon as the action restarted by referee Luis Pabon. Time was 1:44. Valuev, who was coming off two close decision wins, delivered a very impressive performance in this fight.
"My family wanted me to knock him out today, that's why I did it," Valuev said. ´"It was the right hand today," he added in reference to his win over John Ruiz when he won the title by standing outside the American and using his left jab.
Interestingly, John Ruiz was declared the number one contender and might hope for a rematch against the Russian Giant.
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, 61-year-old Yuri Sergeyev, claims Valuev's wife parked her car inappropriately, and a request to move the car lead 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. [3] 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. [4]
Record
Despite his imposing size and unblemished record, many boxing experts and writers doubt Valuev's ability as a boxer, and some have labeled him a 'freak show.'[1] His current record stands at 44-0-0-1 with 32 KOs. Against John 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 [5]). Valuev is only 33 (2 years younger than Vitali Klitschko). Valuev is rated sixth by fightnews.com (higher than Hasim Rahman, the former WBC champion). Valuev is also ranked second 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 #2 in the world. Valuev had one no contest bout against Andreas Sidon in 1999. Nobody knows exactly what happened. Valuev was first declared winner, then a draw was announced, then the referee left. This bout lasted no more than 4 rounds and most of the rounds were not even 3 minutes long, it might be placed under exhibition category.