Nikolai Valuev vs. Ruslan Chagaev
Date | 14 April 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | 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
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."
Undercard
Confirmed bouts:[14]
Broadcasting
Country | Broadcaster |
---|---|
Germany | Das Erste |
Hungary | Sport 1 |
United Kingdom | British Eurosport[15]
|
United States | 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.