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| Date | 7 November 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haye wins via majority decision (114-114, 116-112, 116-112) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. [1]
After regaining the WBA title with a unanimous decision over fellow former Champion John Ruiz, Nikolai Valuev had made one defence gaining a very controversial majority decision over Evander Holyfield, [2] he agreed to "Champion in Recess" Ruslan Chagaev, who had given Valuev the only defeat of career. However their fight on 30 May 2009 in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena, was cancelled when Chagaev was declared medically unfit after failing a Finnish medical test, allegedly due to hepatitis, although he would go on to face Wladimir Klitschko in June losing via a 9th round RTD.
Haye had moved to the Heavyweight division after he had unified the WBA, WBC & WBO cruiserweight titles against Enzo Maccarinelli, knocking out Monte Barrett in November 2008. He was first set to face WBC Champion Vitali Klitschko, [3] then Haye agreed to face his brother Wladimir, however he pulled out with a back injury and was replaced with Chagaev. [4]
In July Valuev and Haye agreed to meet in November, despite John Ruiz claiming that he had inherited the mandatory status from Chagaev as the next highest ranked contender. [5] He would later agree to face the winner of Valuev vs Haye.
Haye was able to outmove and outbox the much slower Valuev by using a circle, stick and move strategy, which would give a majority decision victory. Haye suffered a broken hand during the fight while hitting Valuev's head, saying it was like hitting a brick wall. The win made Haye the fourth Briton to win a major heavyweight title, after Bob Fitzsimmons, Lennox Lewis, and Frank Bruno, as well as only the second former cruiserweight champion to win a heavyweight title after Evander Holyfield. [6] [7]
Valuev would retire after the fight, while Haye would agree to face Ruiz in a mandatory defence.
Confirmed bouts: [8]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 John Ruiz |  Adnan Serin | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 7th-round TKO. |
 Francisco Palacios | DeLeon Tinsley | Cruiserweight (8 rounds) | 1st-round TKO. |
 Robert Helenius |  Taras Bidenko | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | 3rd-round RTD. |
 Siarhei Liakhovich | Jeremy Bates | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | 1st-round TKO. |
 George Groves | Kanstantsin Makhankou | Super Middleweight (8 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
 Alexander Frenkel | Kelvin Davis | Cruiserweight (8 rounds) | 1st-round TKO. |
 Marcos Nader |  Ciro Ciano | Middleweight (6 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
 Kubrat Pulev | Gbenga Oloukun | Heavyweight (6 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Canada | Viewers Choice |
 Denmark | TV2 Sport |
| Germany | ARD |
 Hungary | Viasat 6 |
 Philippines | Solar Sports |
 Poland | Polsat |
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
| United States | Direct TV |
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.
Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships between 2000 and 2015, including unified titles between 2008 and 2015. During this time also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring magazine titles.
Alexander Vladimirovich "Sasha" Povetkin is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013; the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title from 2020 to 2021; and challenged twice for the unified heavyweight championship in 2013 and 2018.
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.
Jean-Marc Gilbert Mormeck is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He is a two-time unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA, WBC and The Ring world titles twice between 2005 and 2007. He was the first boxer to hold unified cruiserweight title since Evander Holyfield in 1988, and the first fighter to hold The Ring cruiserweight title since Carlos De León in 1987. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's top 10 cruiserweight from 2001 to 2005 and in 2007, and was ranked No.1 in 2003 and 2004. Mormeck also challenged for the unified world heavyweight title in 2012.
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.
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.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye, billed as The Talk Ends Now, was a heavyweight unification fight between IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring champion Wladimir Klitschko, and WBA champion David Haye. The fight took place in Imtech Arena, Altona, Hamburg, Germany on July 2, 2011. Klitschko defeated Haye by unanimous decision.
Chris Byrd vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 14, 2002 for the vacant IBF heavyweight championship.
Nikolai Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on 20 December 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
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.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "X-Plosive", was a professional boxing match contested on 13 December 2008 for the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight championship.
Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield, was a professional boxing match contested on 13 October 2007 for the WBO 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.
David Haye vs. John Ruiz, billed as Lord Of The Ring, was a professional boxing match contested on 3 April 2010, for the WBA Heavyweight championship.
