Nikolay Valuev: I am ready at 100 percent

Today in German Stuttgart on the Porsche Arena will take place in boxing, the main event in which will be the duel of the heavyweights of the Russian Nikolai Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan. At stake in this battle will be standing belonging to the "Russian giant" title of the World WBA champion.

For Valuev, the track record of the battles in the professional ring has 46 victories (34 of them - early), this defense of the title will become the fourth (and the first mandatory).

The 33-year-old Russian became the world champion at the end of 2005, in Berlin, winning John Ruis by points. In 2006, Valuev twice defended his championship, and in both cases won the opponents with a knockout. At first, in German Hanover, the American Owen Bek, born in Jamaica, fell on Yamaika, and then in Chicago - another US representative Monte Barrett.

In January 2007, a historical duel took place in the Swiss Basel: the “most high” and the “most difficult” at all times in boxing. Valuev’s rival (213 cm, 146.2 kg) became American Jamil McClay (198 cm, 121.7 kg). Thus, the total weight of rivals amounted to 267.9 kilograms, and height - 411 centimeters. The expectations before the fight were large, but the fans were disappointed: Macclayin in the end of the third round after an inaccurate strike unsuccessfully stepped on the leg and was injured in the left knee.

As Valuev himself said at a press conference before the fight with Chagaev, almost immediately after the battle with McClayen, he began to prepare in mandatory protection. “And now I am ready 100 percent,” the Russian said.

And yet, in the life of Valuev, in addition to training, during this time there was one more - and the brightest - the event: the wife of boxer Galina gave birth to a girl, who was called Irina. The child became the second in the Valuev family: his son Grisha is five years old.

Valuev is called a clear favorite before the battle with Chagaev, who is inferior to the Russian in a height of more than 25 cm. As the champion promoter Wilfred Zauerland noted, Valuev is in excellent shape and noticeably lost weight. "Nikolai is easier than in all champion battles," he said.

The words of the promoter were confirmed by the official weighing ceremony of rivals, which took place on Friday. Compared to the battle against McClayin, Valuev “lost 1.5 kg”, and now its weight is 144.7 kg. Chagaev is easier than a Russian by more than 40 kg (103.5 kg).

The manager of the Olympic champion of Athens Alexander Povetkin Vladimir Khryunov also shared his opinion that Valuev should defend his title. “Nikolai has recently significantly added in coordination,” he said. “At the same time, he spent the last five fights with serious rivals at the highest level, which is an invaluable experience that Chagaev simply does not have.”

The 28-year-old “White Tyson” Chagaev, like Valuev, does not know the defeats in the professional ring, but one of his 23 battles ended with a technical draw due to the dissection of the opponent. 17 times Chagaev defeated his rivals by knockout.

The coach of the boxer from Uzbekistan is the famous specialist Michael Timm. As soon as it became known that Chagaev had to fight with Valuev, he stated that he knew how to defeat such a giant. It is interesting that, working in training with his ward, Timm stood on a special attack of 30 centimeters high so that Chagaev worked out the blows up, RIA Novosti reports.

Timm is sure that the match of April 14 will last all the 12 rounds allotted for the championship battle. “There will be 12 rounds of a heavy and exhausting struggle,” he said. “We worked well in training, and from our sparring partners we could gain commander -in -law for the NBA.”

The boxer himself from Uzbekistan at a press conference on Thursday kept confidently and withstood Valuev's gaze point blank when the photographers asked the rivals to pose to them. “I have a goal - to become a champion, and who is standing in my way - big or small - I don’t care,” Chagaev said.