| Date | 14 April 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chagaev defeated Valuev via Majority Decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nikolai Valuev vs. Ruslan Chagaev was a professional boxing match contested on 14 April 2007, for the WBA heavyweight championship. [1]
After his controversial victory over John Ruiz in December 2005, WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev had made 3 successful defences, all by stoppage, and had expressed interest in fighting the then-IBF world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Ruslan Chagaev had become Valuev's mandatory challenger following his split decision victory over former champion Ruiz in November 2006. [6] Valuev was sat ringside and believed Chagaev was the rightful winner. [7]
During his training camp ahead of bout, Chagaev's trainer Michael Timm had a special podium built, on which he stood up so Chagaev could get used to punching up to someone with a big height advantage. Most of his sparring partners, such as Julius Long, were between 2.00 metres (6.56 ft) and 2.16 metres (7.1 ft) tall. Timm also had a Panasonic TV with a 2.5 m diagonal installed so they could study Valuev's style in full size. [8]
Valuev entered the ring as a 5 to 1 favourite.
Chagaev used his speed and footwork to nullify Valuev's size advantage, successfully bobbing and weaving, slipping under Valuev's jab and going back-and-forth between moving to the left and right to confuse Valuev with movement.
After 12 rounds Chagaev won the fight by a majority decision with scores of 117–111, 115–113 and 114–114. [9]
Speaking after the bout Chagaev said "Before the fight everybody said that Nikolai is too tall for me to have a chance. Well, I'm smaller but I have the sting." [10] Shortly afterwards Chagaev signed to face WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov in a unification showdown that would take place in Moscow in October 2007. However, on 31 July, it was officially announced that the fight had been cancelled due to Chagaev suffering from an aggravation of gastric problems. [11] Instead, former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield agreed to step in as a last-minute replacement. [12] It was later discovered that Chagaev had contracted hepatitis B. [13]
Confirmed bouts: [14]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Germany | Das Erste |
 Hungary | Sport 1 |
 United Kingdom | British Eurosport [15] |
 United States | MSG [16] |
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.
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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 December 20, 2008 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
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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.
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.
John Ruiz vs. Nikolai Valuev was a professional boxing match contested on 17 December 2005, 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.
