| Date | 17 December 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin, Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Valuev defeated Ruiz via Majority Decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Ruiz vs. Nikolai Valuev was a professional boxing match contested on 17 December 2005, for the WBA heavyweight championship. [1]
After reversing his short lived retirement following his defeat at the hands of James Toney was changed to a non contest, John Ruiz agreed in October 2005 to face the undefeated Nikolai Valuev, who had just won a close and disputed title eliminator with Larry Donald. [2]
Bookmakers Stan James had Valuev as the 13–8 on favourite to win. [3]
Ruiz picked off the Russian easily throughout the fight and cut him below the left eye. However Valuev managed to rock Ruiz with a left in the eighth and edged the final round with right-left combination that wobbled the American.
The two of the three judges scored the bout for Valuev 114–116 and 113–116 while the third scored it 114–114, giving Valuev a Majority Decision victory, becoming the first-ever Russian world heavyweight champion. He also became the tallest and heaviest champion in boxing history. [4] However it was also a controversial one causing 10,000 German spectators booed when the decision was announced.
Ruiz was convinced that his jab/combination-punch technique had given him a clear victory and demanded that his promoter, Don King, set up an immediate re-match. Ruiz's long-time manager, Norman Stone, who had grabbed the belt and yelled insults at the Valuev camp following the decision, declared that they would also formally petition the WBA. Ruiz's camp claimed that the Germans booed because they too felt that the outcome was unjust, with Ruiz telling the post-fight media conference "Only in boxing can you get robbed without a gun". Wilfried Sauerland, the manager who rescued Valuev's career from obscurity two years earlier, angrily countered that the fans had booed because Stone's in-ring behavior had agitated them. [5]
Frank Warren held talks with Don King and Wilfried Sauerland in an attempt to arrange a bout with Commonwealth champion Danny Williams, with Warren saying "It would be a huge fight, it would be a big enough draw to be staged at a London football stadium." [6]
The two would evently have a rematch in August 2008 with Valuev again getting a controversial decision.
Confirmed bouts: [7]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Germany | Das Erste |
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
David Deron Haye is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he won a silver medal in 2001.
Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev is a Russian politician and former professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1993 to 2009, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2005 and 2009. Standing at a height of 2.13 metres (7 ft) and a peak weight of 149 kilograms (328 lb), Valuev is best known for being the tallest and heaviest world champion in boxing history.
Jameel McCline is an American former professional boxer. He challenged for the world heavyweight title on an unprecedented four occasions, losing all four attempts to Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Nikolai Valuev and Samuel Peter. Despite never winning a world title, McCline did defeat former champions and top contenders in Michael Grant, Lance Whitaker, Al Cole, Cedric Boswell and Shannon Briggs. McCline retired in 2012 at the age of 42.
Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev ; born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2016. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title twice and was the first Asian boxer to win a world heavyweight title by any of the four major sanctioning bodies. He was ranked as a top 10 heavyweight or contender by The Ring magazine at the conclusion of each year between 2006 and 2015; at the end of 2008 he was ranked third, only behind the Klitschko brothers.
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF undisputed heavyweight championship.
Chris Byrd vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 14, 2002 for the vacant IBF heavyweight championship.
Roy Jones Jr. vs. Antonio Tarver, billed as Now It's Personal, was a professional boxing match contested on November 8, 2003 for the vacant WBA (Unified) title, Tarver's WBC light-heavyweight championship, Jones' IBO and The Ring light-heavyweight championships.
Nikolai Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 20, 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz, billed as Justice, was a professional boxing match contested on August 12, 2000 for the vacant WBA heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz II, billed as The Last Word, was a professional boxing match contested on March 3, 2001 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. Evander Holyfield III was a professional boxing match contested on December 15, 2001 for the WBA heavyweight championship. The fight ended in a split draw, a result that meant Ruiz retained his WBA title.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ruslan Chagaev, billed as "Knockout Auf Schalke", was a professional boxing match contested on 20 June 2009 for the IBF, WBO, IBO, and vacant The Ring heavyweight championship.
Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye, billed as David vs Goliath, was a professional boxing match contested on 7 November 2009 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. James Toney was a professional boxing match contested on April 30, 2005, for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Nikolai Valuev vs. Ruslan Chagaev was a professional boxing match contested on 14 April 2007, for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Nikolai Valuev vs. John Ruiz II was a professional boxing match contested on 30 August 2008, for the WBA heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. Andrew Golota, billed as Struggle For Supremacy (Night of the Heavyweights), was a professional boxing match contested on November 13, 2004, for the WBA Heavyweight championship.
