Nikolai Valuev vs. Ruslan Chagaev
Date | 14 April 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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]
Background
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.
The fight
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Valuev_vs_Chagaev.jpg/220px-Valuev_vs_Chagaev.jpg)
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]
Aftermath
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]
Undercard
Confirmed bouts:[14]
Broadcasting
Country | Broadcaster |
---|---|
![]() | Das Erste |
![]() | Sport 1 |
![]() | Televisa |
![]() | British Eurosport[15] |
![]() | MSG[16] |
References
- ^ "Nikolay Valuev vs. Ruslan Chagaev". boxrec.com/. BoxRec. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Валуев: "Увидимся в ринге, брат!"". boxnews.com.ua (in Russian). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ ""Дам тебе бутылкой по голове". Валуев проиграл малышу Чагаеву, доведя тренера до истерики". championat.com (in Russian). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ SECONDS OUT (7 April 2007). "VALUEV READY FOR CHAGAEV". eurosport.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Chagaev can scale height". chroniclelive.co.uk. Trinity Mirror North East. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ Borges, Ron (19 November 2006). "Uninspired Ruiz left at a loss". The Boston Globe.
- ^ UzReport. "Ruslan Chagaev beats John Ruiz to earn WBA heavyweight title shot – UzReport.uz". news.uzreport.uz. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ "The White Tyson can knock out Valuev". morgenpost.de (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ Peter Starck (9 August 2007). "Chagaev beats Valuev to lift heavyweight title". reuters.com/. Reuters. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Chagaev captures heavyweight title". cnn.com. STUTTGART, Germany: CNN. 15 April 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Skelton to face Chagaev for WBA heavyweight title". USA TODAY. Gannett Co. Inc. Associated Press. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2002.
- ^ "Холифилд рискнет ухом в Москве". gazeta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 20 July 2020.
- ^ "Skelton to face Chagaev for WBA heavyweight title". USA TODAY. Gannett Co. Inc. Associated Press. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2002.
- ^ "BoxRec - event".
- ^ FightFranchise (22 May 2009). "Ruslan Chagaev vs Nikolai Valuev - Part 1 of 5". youtube.com. Youtube. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ DKP (11 April 2007). "MSG Network To Air Valuev-Chagaev Live". boxingscene.com. BoxingScene. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
Preceded by vs. Jameel McCline | Nikolai Valuev's bouts 14 April 2007 | Succeeded by vs. Jean-François Bergeron |
Preceded by vs. John Ruiz | Ruslan Chagaev's bouts 14 April 2007 | Succeeded by vs. Matt Skelton |