Valuev wrote poetry
ByAFP
Published 20/10/2009 at 06:35 GMT
Nikolay Valuev is used to the looks and sniggers that his huge size has attracted over the years, but the comments from his latest challenger have been particularly caustic - something which has upset a sensitive soul and amateur poet.
BOXING nikolay valuev russia
Image credit: Imago
David Haye, Britain's former undisputed world cruiserweight champion, has declared he is only just getting warmed up after calling Valuev "a circus freak" ahead of their fight in Nuremberg on November 7 for Valuev's WBA heavyweight title.
At 7'2" and 23 stone, Valuev is the biggest world heavyweight champion in history and will tower over his opponent when he gets into the ring to face Haye, who is 6'2" and does not expect to be over 16 stones for the fight.
Haye's trash talk might be particularly dirty, but it does not seem to be unsettling the Russian champion.
Valuev has heard all the insults before after being compared to Shrek and billed earlier in his career as 'The Beast from the East'.
"I am not a circus show," said Valuev. "I am a normal human being. People sometimes do not treat me like a human being because of my size and make me a sensation.
"I try to not take it personally because they do not know me as a person. My name is Nikolay Valuev, not something else."
But Valuev's Germany-based promoter Kalle Sauerland believes Haye's comments have riled the champion.
"Niko has laughed at what Haye has been saying but he didn't like the image of Haye punching his head off a cardboard cut out of himself," Sauerland said.
"He promised me that he's going to knock Haye out, which he doesn't normally say about opponents.
"I think Haye has got to him a little bit. I don't think he appreciates being called some of the things Haye has said.
"He has lost just once in 51 fights and fought everyone out there available, so if he is a circus act like Haye says he is, I want to go the circus."
Haye admits he thinks Valuev is "cold" and fittingly the Russian's favourite pastime is hunting.
However, there is a gentler side to the giant who appeared in the 2008 Russian film 'Stonehead' and who is said to enjoy reading classics by Leo Tolstoy, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Niko is a humble guy, an introvert and very intelligent," added Sauerland.
And rather incongruously for a heavyweight boxer, Valuev even wrote his own poems to woo his 5'2" wife ten years ago.
"The poems were written for Galina," said Valuev. "They are personal and I don't like to discuss them. I'm a boxer, not a poet."
Valuev even admits he is surprised himself that he has ended up as a top boxer, considering his nature.
"Boxing is something I don't really do with a passion," he has said.
Indeed, Valuev very nearly did not take up boxing at all and it was not until he was 20 that he became addicted to the sport.
He was born to parents who both stood only 5'5" tall and was raised in St Petersburg.
His father, Sergei, worked in a factory repairing radios while young Nikolay first excelled at basketball at a sports school where he grew accustomed to the attention his size was earning him.
After a short amateur boxing career, Valuev turned professional aged 21 in 1993. He made his professional debut in Berlin and boxed in the early years of his career in England, Australia, Japan and America.
Valuev, who steps over the ropes rather than between them to get to the ring, kept winning until he took his chance to win the WBA world title with a majority points decision over American John Ruiz in December 2005.
After three defences, Valuev suffered the only blemish on his 16-year 51-fight professional record. Valuev blamed the wrong strategy for defeat to Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev on points in 2007 and has since been trained by Alexander Zimin.
After getting himself back into contention, a second win over Ruiz put the WBA belt back in Valuev's possession.
He then earned a less than convincing majority verdict over 46-year-old former champion Evander Holyfield last December before a rematch with Chagaev had to be postponed after the Uzbek fighter failed a medical.
Triumph over Haye will increase the likelihood of a world title unification clash between Valuev and one of the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers, who both own the other versions of the world heavyweight title.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement