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VALUEV, Nikolai Sergeyevich
Professional boxer, WBA Heavyweight Champion
 Nikolai Valuev (Николай Сергеевич Валуев) was born on August 21, 1973 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
During his childhood, Valuev avidly engaged in sport (football, ice hockey, cycling, basketball, athletics). Just before his teens, Valuev entered the Sport-Specialized School No. 1 in St. Petersburg. As a member of the Frunzenskaya Children and Youth Sports School, Valuev managed to win a junior national championship in basketball. At the school, Valuev took part in track and field events (in particular discus) for six years. He trained in the school of V.A. Alekseev, the founder of the famous Academy of Sport in Leningrad. This school has produced some such famous track and field athletes such as Natalya Chizhova and Alexander Barishnikov. According to his personal webpage at the internet site Box-Way.Ru, whenever Valuev is in St.Petersburg, he still prefers to train at this school.
After graduating from school, Valuev spent two years at the sport's academy in Leningrad. Then Valuev transferred to the Lesgaft St. Petersburg State University for Physical Culture. Valuev has since left the institute on temporary leave, to return as a part-time student.
After an amateur career where he had a record of 23-0, with 16 knockouts, Valuev started his professional career in boxing at the age of twenty. He began his first training sessions for the sport in the spring of 1993. Valuev's first trainer and subsequent manager and promoter was Oleg Shalayev. From the onset, Shalayev was fascinated by Valuev's physique: at the time when Shalayev met Valuev, Valuev was no less than 210 cms tall (6 ft. 11ins) (Valuev would eventually reach the height of 213 cms (7ft.) with a weight of 147 kgs (324 lbs)).
Valuev had his first professional fight on October 15, 1993 in Berlin, when he overcame American John Morton with a knockout in the second round. Valuev would then become runner-up in the St. Petersburg championships. In 1994 he was runner-up in the All-Russian Championships held in his home town. During this time, Valuev was a qualified Master of Sports. Valuev was made a member for boxing of the Unified Team (combined team of Russia and the CIS, expect the Baltic states) for the 1994 Goodwill Games (also held in St. Petersburg). However, Valuev was denied participation at the event; participants must be amateur-level boxers, while Valuev already established himself as a professional athlete. Valuev would later admit that his dream to participate in the Summer Olympics was evidently shattered because of his conversion to professional boxing.
In 1999 Valuev took the Russian heavyweight title and in 2000 won a Pan-Asian title.
In 2002, Valuev was greeted with controversy. Valuev was omitted from the WBA rankings, and thus stripped of his Russian championship title by the Russian Federation of Boxing (FPBR). Following this, Valuev remarked: "The federation has no right to strip me of my title. As an act of protest, myself and my promoter Oleg Shalaev have departed from the FPBR [...] The heads of the federation have done everything possible so that we may leave Russia and did the least to help develop us there."
In 2003 Valuev decided to sever links with Oleg Shalayev. On cutting tides with his former master, Valuev said: "For 26 years I have burned with the desire to become champion. Two years ago I found myself in a difficult period of my life; I received neither moral nor material satisfaction from boxing and overall was prepared to quit. Sanity came to my rescue. I could not simply throw away the years I dedicated to boxing. It was important to end my relations with Oleg Shalayev and sign a contract with German promoter Wilfried Sauerland."
Key fights
• With 42 consecutive wins under his belt (from October 1993 to October 2005), Valuev squared off with WBA Heavyweight champion John Ruiz on December 17, 2005 in Berlin. Valuev was declared the winner of the bout by a controversial twelve-round majority decision. He won 116-113 and 116-114 on two judges' cards, with a third judge scoring the fight 114-114. The decision was greeted by booes from the spectators.
According to information released by The Associated Press, Ruiz manager Norman Stone had to be restrained in the ring when the announcement was made, and a member of Valuev's entourage threw a punch at Stone while Stone was parading with Ruiz's belt inside the ring. Valuev's promoter Wilfried Sauerland accused him of inciting the crowd, leading to the booing.
"I'm always fighting a smaller man and the crowd always supports the smaller man," the 32-year-old Valuev said of the crowd's jeers. "But I was perfectly sure at the end I had won."
"I had to wait 12 years for this and now it has happened. It's fantastic."
Ruiz added his own words amid the post-fight atmosphere: "Boxing is the only sport where you can get robbed without a gun [...] My promoter Don King should do his job and get a rematch."
Valuev's victory confirmed him as the first Russian heavyweight champion of the world.
• On June 3, 2006, Valuev successfully defended his WBA Heavyweight championship belt by defeating Jamaican-born Owen Beck by a third-round technical knockout in Hannover, Germany.
• On October 7, 2006 Valuev took on American Monte Barrett in Rosemont, Illinois, overcoming his opponent with a technical knockout in the eleventh round, for his 45th victory.
• In January 20, 2007, Valuev once again managed to defend his title, with his adversary Jameel McCline retiring after sustaining a knee injury.
• However, on April 14, 2007, Valuev met his match in Stuttgart, Germany when he was defeated by Uzbeki fighter Ruslan Chagaev by a majority decision (117-111, 115-113 and 114-114).
• Valuev would return to winning ways with successful bouts against Jean-Francois Bergeron and Sergei Liakhovich. The latter victory in February 2008 earned Valuev the right to fight Chagaev for his lost WBA title. The fight between Chagaev and Valuev was due to take place on July 5, 2008 but was cancelled due to injury on the part of Chagaev. Instead, Valuev renewed his rivalry with John Ruiz when the two met for the vacant WBA title in Berlin on August 30, 2008. Prior to the title bout, Valuev spoke of his content at the choice of venue: "I am happy my team won and that the fight will be staged in Germany [...] Berlin is very special to me. That is where I defeated Ruiz in 2005 to become world champion. Fighting in the Max Schmeling Halle again will be like a home match."
• On August 30, 2008, Valuev regained the WBA heavyweight championship, using his left jab to outpoint American John Ruiz in an unanimous decision. The fight was first declared a split decision, but the score was officially later changed to give Valuev all three of the judges' votes. The judges scored it for Valuev, 116-113, 116-111 and 114-113. WBA delegate John Pack said one of the officials, Japanese ringside judge Takeshi Shimakawa, alerted him after the first split decision was read out that he too had given the fight to Valuev. The Japanese official explained that one of the cards had the names of the fighters in a different order, therefore resulting in the confusion. Shimakawa was the judge who scored it 114-113.
The decision wasn't popular with everyone in the Max Schmeling arena in Berlin, with some of the crowd booing the outcome. "I thought I won the fight," Ruiz said. "I don't know what was going with the scorecards." The scorecards were taken back and fourth from the ring several times.
Valuev landed a few big rights, but not enough to put Ruiz into trouble. Ruiz could not connect with more than one punch at a time. "I did not do what I wanted to do 100 percent," Valuev said. He settled for keeping Ruiz at a distance with his left jab, but never delivered a punch that could shake Ruiz.
Ruiz appeared to shake Valuev with a right in the second round but the Russian recovered quickly. Every time Ruiz appeared to get close, Valuev's left jab would keep the American away. Valuev must now defend his belt against Chagaev no later than June 26, 2009.
•Valuev´s first title defense of his second reign as WBA Champíon was against the 46-year old, four-time heavyweight world champion, Evander Holyfield, on December 20, 2008, in Switzerland. Valuev won on points, in what many experts consider one of the worst decisions ever in a heavyweight title fight, when two of three referees voted for his close victory, one referee voted for a draw. Two judges had the fight 116-112 and 115-114 with the other scoring it even.
Valuev's controversial victory over Holyfield is being investigated by the World Boxing Association. It said, in a statement, "The Championship Committee have ordered a panel of judges to review the tape of the fight between Valuev and Holyfield." There has not yet been given any date for the decision; with WBA stating the decision will be made in "the following weeks."
As of December 21, 2008, Valuev holds a 50-1 record with 34 knockouts.
Scandals, Controversies
In early 2006, Valuev became involved in a scandal after he allegedly assaulted a 61-year-old security guard at a parking lot outside a sports stadium in St. Petersburg on January 19. Valuev said in an interview that the guard was rude to his wife and used improper language after she parked illegally outside the Spartak Ice Palace, where she had brought their three-year-old son for skating practice. Valuev added that he came to help his harassed wife, and only grabbed the guard by the collar. The guard however alleges Valuev assaulted him. No criminal investigation was ever launched by local police. The guard was admitted to hospital where he was diagnosed as suffering from "closed craniocerebral injury, thorax and cerebral contusion." He threatened to launch a private civil suit against Valuev. He won the suit, and Valuev has now been ordered to pay 130,000 rubles (5,400 USD) in damages.
At the end of July 2008, Valuev decided to bring a case against a website for the unauthorized use of his surname on the internet. Valuev's lawyer said that his client does not approve of the use of his surname for the website www.valuev.ru.
Sources
Wikipedia.Com, Biography of Nikolai Valuev
Box-way.Ru, Official Personal Website
BoxRec.Com, Valuev's Professional Boxing Record
Kulichki.Com, Nikolai Valuev's Biographical Details
ESPN.Com, "Ruiz loses WBA title," December 18, 2005
ESPN.com, "Valuev, Ruiz set August date for WBA heavyweight title rematch," July 21, 2008
RIA Novosti, "Russia's 'Beast from the East in security guard assault scandal," January 24, 2006
RIA Novosti, "Valuev fights illegal use of his name on the internet," July 30, 2008 (In Russian)
ESPN.com, "Valuev wins heavyweight title in unanimous decision," August 30, 2008
BBC News, "WBA to investigate Valuev victory," December 30, 2008
Last updated January 2, 2009
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