Nikolai Sergeevich Valuev was born on August 21, 1973, in the family of Sergei Nikolaevich and Nadezhda Mikhailovna Valuev, who came from the Tver and Yaroslavl regions. Kolya’s extraordinary physical characteristics were already visible in kindergarten, he was much taller than everyone else in height, in the 5th grade of the school, his height was 185 cm. basketball (Frunzensky district of St. Petersburg). As part of the school’s team, he became the USSR champion in basketball among young men. The second discipline of Nikolai was discus throwing, he trained at the famous Athletics School of Higher Sports Mastership DSO “Zenith” (now the Sports School of Athletics named after Viktor Ilyich Alekseev), fulfilled the standards of the master of sports.
Nikolay came to boxing in the spring of 1993, he was 19 years old, the age is extremely late for a boxer. The first coach and promoter of Valuev were Oleg Vyacheslavovich Shalaev, he was able to use Valuev’s advantages – height 213 cm and weight up to 150 kg, long arms, enormous physical strength, resistance to blows, “impenetrable” head. All this compensated for his low speed and mobility, lack of experience, and serious boxing school. Already on October 15, 1993, in Berlin, Nikolai entered the ring against professional John Morton from the United States and won by technical knockout. Valuev played as an amateur at the 1994 Russian boxing championship, as well as at the 1994 Goodwill Games, but was disqualified because his first official fight in Berlin was recognized as a professional one.
The quote is taken from the magazine “Moviesflix”
As a professional, heavyweight boxer and super heavyweight, from 1994 to 1999 Nikolai Valuev had 20 victorious fights in a row, among his rivals were the Russians Alexei Vasiliev, Alexei Tsygankov, Sergei Anikeev; British Neil Kirkwood and Darren Fearn; Australians Kevin Rosier and August Tanuvasa; boxers from the United States Terrell Nelson, Sinclair Babb, Jim Huffman, and James Gaines, etc.
The first title – “Champion of Russia among professional boxers” – Nikolai Valuev won in a duel with Russian Alexey Osokin (01.22.1999, St. Petersburg, victory by TKO in round 6). Then he defended his title with a brilliant victory over Alexei Varakin (December 1999, 1 round knockout).
On June 6, 2000, Nikolai Valuev won the heavyweight title of the Pan-Asian Boxing Association (PABA) in a tough 12-round duel with Ukrainian Yuri Elistratov, this title he managed to defend five more times, winning fights with New Zealanders Tony Fiso (Tony Fiso, 29.10. 2000, TKO in 1 round) and Toakipa Tasefa (Toakipa Tasefa, 28.09.2001, victory by points); American George Lindberg (30.06.2001, TKO in 1 round), Ukrainian Taras Bidenko (21.07.2002) and Argentinean Pedro Daniel Franco (15.03.2003).
Since 2004, Valuev has been striving for the next prestigious title, on July 24 in Germany he defeated the Nigerian Richard Bango (TKO in the 6th round) and became the Intercontinental Professional Champion according to the World Boxing Association (WBA). For several years in a row, he managed to defend this title (victory in 4 fights).
To the most prestigious title for a professional boxer – the World Professional Heavyweight Champion according to the World Boxing Association / WBA – Valuev walked, according to him, 12 years of his career. On December 17, 2005, at the Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin, he defeated the famous American boxer of Puerto Rican origin John Ruiz, who had held the title since 2001, in a tough 12-round duel.
The quote is taken from the magazine “DesireMovies”
From 2005 to 2007, Valuev was the world heavyweight champion. He successfully repelled the attempts of challengers to win this highest title three times: Jamaican heavyweight Owen Beck (Owen Beck, bout 06/03/2006, TKO in 3 rounds); Americans Monty Barrett (07.10.2006, TKO in the 11th round) and Jameel McCline (20.01.2007, after the 3rd round refused to fight).
Uzbek boxer Ruslan Chagaev defeated Valuev on April 14, 2007 (12 rounds, victory on points).
Valuev invited a new coach, he was honored. Alexander Vasilievich Zimin, coach of Russia, professor of the Department of Theory and Methodology of Boxing, NSU named after P.F.Lesgaft. The boxer and the coach switched to a different, more complex, and intelligent fighting technique, which, combined with the outstanding general physical qualities of Valuev, made him an even more dangerous opponent.
This was proved on August 30, 2008, at the same Max-Schmeling-Halle arena in Berlin, where John Ruiz tried to take revenge (fight for the vacant title). The phenomenally intense 12-round fight became very difficult for judging, as the forces of the outstanding giant rivals were almost equal. Valuev won by points and became world champion again. After 4 months, on December 20, 2008, Nikolai Valuev defended his title against the legendary boxer from the USA Evander Holyfield, the only 4-time world heavyweight champion.
Perhaps due to the physical advantage of Valuev (141 kg. Against 97 Holyfield), the American boxer chose the tactics of mobile combat, very effectively attacked and “danced” around Valuev, but avoided active close combat. The judges gave the victory to the champion by a majority vote, which caused a huge scandal among boxing experts and fans around the world. The second defense of the title – against the talented and ambitious Briton David Haye – Valuev lost on points in a 12-round match in Nuremberg, Germany.
Nevertheless, many experts believe Haye’s advantage is not indisputable, and Valuev’s fight is one of the best in his career. This was the last official fight of Nikolai Valuev., the youth boxing tournament “Valuev Cup” has been regularly held in the northern capital.
In April 2010, Valuev joined the United Russia party, in December 2011 he became a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation on the federal list of the party.
He is a member of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, participated in the work on a bill obliging legal entities and enterprises to be responsible for the physical culture and physical health of their employees; the bill on pension provision for professional athletes; over a law that toughens the terms for placing tobacco advertisements; the law “On the protection of the seas”. Valuev actively promoted and supported amendments to the well-known Federal Law of February 29, 2012, N 14-FZ, which strengthens liability for sexual crimes committed against minors.
Awards
▪ Champion of Russia among professional boxers (St. Petersburg, 1999, defended the title 1 time)
▪ Champion in heavyweight according to the Pan-Asian Boxing Association / PABA (2000-2003, defended the title 5 times)
▪ Intercontinental champion among professionals according to the World Boxing associations / WBA (since 2004, defended title 4 times)
▪ 2-time World Heavyweight Champion according to the World Boxing Association / WBA (2005 -2007, 3 title defenses; August 2008-November 2009, 1 title defense)
A family
Wife – Galina Valueva (marriage since 2000)
Son – Gregory (2002)
Daughter – Irina (2007)
Son – Sergey (2012)
