DOB: August 21 1973
Heavyweight
World Rank: 6 / 1059
Stance: Orthodox
Trainer: Manuel Gabrielian
Manager: Wilfried Sauerland
Wins 47
Knockouts 34
Losses 1
Draws 0
No contests 1
Alias: The Russian Giant, The Beast From the East
Nikolai Valuev was born in 1973 in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg). As a child Valuev showed great interest in sports as he played water polo and basketball, and was also a discus thrower. It was only at the age of 20 that he went in deep for boxing. Valuev’s made his first steps in boxing under the careful guidance of Oleg Shalaev.
Nikolai made his professional debut in 1993 as he knocked out the American boxer John Morton in the fourth round. In 1999 he captured the Russian Heavyweight title and in 2000 Valuev won the first of his five Pan-Asian titles. His amateur career record was of 23-0-0-0, with 18 knockouts, all before the third round. Valuev had a one no contest against Andreas Sidon in 1999.
The year 2000 was marked by a U-turn in Valuev’s career as he started cooperation with the Armenian trainer Manvel Gabrielyan. In 2004 Valuev inked a contract with the famous German promoter Wilfried Sauerland.
Victories over Bob Mirovic, Otis Tisdale, Paolo Vidoz, Gerald Nobles, Attila Levin, and Clifford Etienne gave him the right to fight for the World Champion title.
On December 17, 2005, Valuev squared off with WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, and won a twelve-round majority-decision. This victory came after narrowly defeating Larry Donald on points in the title elimination bout. These two fights exposed Valuev's vulnerability to opponents, capable of getting inside and able to avoid his trademark slow knockout punches.
In the late December of 2005 it was revealed that he had been fighting Ruiz one-handed, due to an injury of his right hand. The fact had been carefully concealed by Valuev's camp as it could deprive Valuev of the chance to fight for a world title. Two judges favored Valuev by scores of 116-114 and 116-113, while the third saw the fight as a 114-114 draw which was enough to give Valuev the title.
In June 2006 Nikolai Valuev defeated challenger Owen Beck by a third-round technical knockout in Hannover, Germany in his first defence of the WBA heavyweight championship. In October 2006 Valuev fought Monte Barrett and defeated him with a technical knockout in the 11th round to secure his 45th win.
In January 2007 Valuev fought Jameel McCline in St. Jakob-Halle, Basel, Switzerland. Valuev won the match, successfully defending his title, after McCline was not able to continue the bout due to a knee injury.
On April 14, 2007 Nikolai Valuev lost his WBA heavyweight title to Chagaev from Uzbekistan. The challenger defeated Valuev in a majority decision (117-111, 115-113 and 114-114).
