Valuev's double Russian boxer regained his champion title

On the night of August 30-31, Nikolai Valuev regained the WBA (World Boxing Association) world heavyweight champion title. As a result of the 12-round fight, Valuev defeated the American Johnny Ruiz by unanimous decision, although immediately after the fight it was not unanimous, but very much “divided”. But more on that later. The main thing is that Valuev beat Ruiz for the second time and became the world champion for the second time.

Vacation and robbery

The Russian became the WBA champion for the first time in December 2005, taking this title away from Ruiz. As you know, in April 2007, Valuev lost to the Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev, but two successful fights were enough for Nikolai (with the Canadian Jean-Francois Bergeron and the Belarusian Sergei Lyakhovich) to become an official contender and gain the right to a rematch with Chagaev.

The Chagaev-Valuev fight was supposed to take place in May, but due to the illness of the Uzbek athlete (viral laryngitis) it was postponed to July. In the summer, a week before entering the ring, Chagaev suffered a rupture of the Achilles tendon of his left leg and was out of action for at least six months. The WBA decided to play for its title between Valuev and Ruiz, who was second in the organization’s ranking.

Chagaev was given the strange title of “champion in recess,” which can be translated as “champion on vacation” or “temporarily inactive champion.” The Uzbek boxer also received the right to meet the winner of the Valuev-Ruiz fight until the end of June 2009. Chagaev seems to be on the mend and says that he is ready to enter the ring at the end of 2008, but all this is still very uncertain.

Nikolai Valuev at the weigh-in. Photo by AFP
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The rights to organize the fight for the title of Chagaev, who was sent on vacation, were won by Valuev’s promotion company Sauerland Event. It was decided to take place in Berlin, where Valuev defeated Ruiz at the end of 2005. Then two judges gave the victory to the Russian, and the third gave a draw, and Ruiz said that he was “robbed in the ring.” Johnny's fans readily agreed with him.

This time the American promised not to allow arbitrariness of the judges and to win all the rounds so confidently that the judges would not have the desire to rip him off again. Ruiz noted that he has changed his style, called "hold and grab" in the American press, recalling that he looked very good in his last fight with Jamil McCline (March 8). All interested parties, including Valuev, confirmed that Ruiz was indeed quite good in that fight.

Photo gallery of the fight Return of the title

The last days before the fight, which included open training, a press conference and weigh-in, passed quietly. Ruiz still talked about the “robbery of the century” and even joked: “I hope that in order to convince the judges that I won the round, I won’t have to knock Valuev down every time.” The Russian and his coach Alexander Zimin said that they were well prepared for the fight and promised to demonstrate this in the ring.

The most cheerful and inappropriate, as always, was the American promoter Don King, who together with Sauerland Event represents Valuev’s interests. As soon as he arrived in the German capital, King declared himself a “real Berliner.” If the battle had taken place, for example, in Semipalatinsk, Don, without hesitation, would have become a real Semipalatinsk resident. King also invited Angela Merkel to the fight, for some reason forgetting about Dmitry Medvedev and George Bush.

Slippery and disturbing

Fight episode. Photo by AFP

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The Bundeschancellor did not attend the match, but spectators filled the Max Schmeling Halle arena even without her help. Valuev appeared second in the hall due to his status, and his stepping over the ring ropes was, as always, accompanied by enthusiastic screams. Many of the fans who saw this will probably want to buy the Russian’s silk robe, in which he went out to fight Ruiz. The bidding has already begun .

Throughout the fight, the Russian scored points with a jab (a direct blow from the “front”, for Valuev’s left, hand), at times meeting his opponent with right straights and uppercuts. Ruiz, as best he could, broke into close combat, and having broken through, he lowered his head and blindly threw punches diagonally upward. Oddly enough, these blows often hit the target, but Valuev, in general, hit more intelligently, more often and more accurately.

The first memorable episode occurred in the second round, when the Russian, while retreating, slipped and almost fell. After the fight, the American’s manager Anthony Cardinale said that the referee could count down Valuev’s knockdown. Nikolai replied that “there wasn’t even a blow there,” and he lost his balance due to the fact that the ring was very slippery.

In the sixth round, Ruiz managed to create a lot of chaos, and during the break, Valuev’s coach Zimin demanded that “not a single slow blow” be thrown. The second half of the fight was worse for the Russian than the first, and in the tenth round the referee deducted a point from Valuev after he knocked over his opponent in a clinch. Zimin became so worried that during the break before the 11th round he started swearing.

Jonny Ruiz after paint. Photo AFP

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Valuev at least did not lose the penultimate round and won the last, delivering the final right hand simultaneously with the bell. The wait for the judge's decision was alarming, and when ring announcer Michael Buffer announced in a solemn voice that the first referee gave the victory to Ruiz (114:113), it became completely uneasy. However, two other judges scored points in favor of Valuev (116:113 and 116:111), and the Russian raised the WBA championship belt over his head.

Arithmetic and revenge

Your author also counted the points, and on the Lenta.Ru judge's card Valuev took six rounds, Ruiz two, and four more rounds were more likely drawn than won by the Russian. If you give all these four rounds to Ruiz and subtract the point deducted by the referee from Valuev, then the score will be exactly 114:113 in favor of the American.

If the draw rounds are divided in half (which is generally fair), then the score of the fight is 115:112 in Valuev’s favor. At the same time, no one forbids the judges from recording draws in drawn rounds (10:10), so the results set at 116:113 and 116:111 seem quite reasonable. In any case, smarter than Ruiz's victory.

However, after the fight it turned out that Japanese judge Takeshi Shimakawa, who scored 114:113, actually scored these points in favor of Valuev, not Ruiz. The referee explained that in the card of one of the rounds (seemingly the last), the names of the boxers were mixed up. WBA delegate John Mack took responsibility for the overlay and apologized to the fans. Thus, Valuev’s victory became unanimous.

There was no point in apologizing to Ruiz, since Johnny declared himself the winner even before all the circumstances were clarified. The American did not talk about the robbery this time, but expressed hope that he would be able to meet with Valuev again. Something tells me that this is unlikely.

The new world champion noted that he was not able to show everything he wanted in the ring and thanked his coach and managers. Perhaps the time has come for Valuev to think about the WBA obligation imposed on him to meet Chagaev. Before the Valuev-Ruiz fight, Ruslan wished good luck to the Russian, noting that he would like to defeat Nikolai again. If everything goes well, this rematch will still happen.