Valuev ready to relaunch career
September 19, 2007
By Peter Marshall Special to PA Sportsticker
When you are seven-feet tall and weigh 325 pounds, boxing your way back to basics is not easy.
But that is what Nikolay Valuev has spent the summer doing in an effort to finally silence the critics who insist he is nothing more than a sporting side-show.
Just shy of two years from what should have been a career-defining win over John Ruiz to claim the WBA heavyweight title, Valuev's battle to be taken seriously as a world-ranked fighter is still ongoing.
That victory - in December 2005 - gave him the kind of profile that must have seemed a lifetime away from his tough upbringing on the streets of St. Petersburg, but the jibes which have dogged him since then will have been distinctly more familiar.
The "Beast from the East", wrote more than one internet columnist after the Ruiz fight, was a "circus act", an oddity put on display for the benefit of gawkers and the assembled press.
He was, according to those same critics, making a mockery of boxing's flagship division.
Except he wasn't.
What Valuev was doing was making the best of the assets that God has given him. Some fighters, like Floyd Mayweather, are blessed with blistering speed and lightning reflexes. Valuev has his mammoth size.
Combined with surprisingly swift hands and a less unexpected sledgehammer of a jab, the Russian powerhouse has always done what comes naturally in the boxing ring: bullied his opponents into physical submission.
Up until recently it proved rudimentary but effective - Owen Beck is just one of those who has suffered when in Valuev's first title defense he was clubbed to the canvas twice and stopped in round three.
Then last April, Ukrainian Ruslan Chagaev brought the Valuev bandwagon to a halt. He simply outfoxed his opponent - probing, watching, waiting and landing on his way to a majority decision.
The purists scoffed with "I told you so" tones, but for Valuev it merely made him more determined to prove them wrong.
And he is not afraid to change to do so.
Like all good fighters he has learned the lessons of that loss, and in the five months since he has reassessed.
A parting of the ways with long-time coach Manuel Gabrielian and the appointment of Alexander Zimin instead has signalled a change of tack.
Now, as he prepares for his comeback fight against unbeaten Canadian Jean-Francois Bergeron for the NABA heavyweight title in Germany on September 29, he is promising a new approach.
"It is my goal for him to improve as a boxer," said Zimin. "More movement, more punches, better tactical behaviour. To put it in a nutshell, he shall box attractively. The people should enjoy watching him box. They shall go home saying 'It was a pleasure to see this fighter in action'."
Valuev is determined to put those big claims into action.
"It will be the start of something new," he told PA Sport. "I have never lost in my career before and I have a clear goal. I want to win my title back. I have undergone a lot of changes. I had to quit working with Manuel Gabrielian. He made me world champion so I owe him a lot but the step (to appoint Zimin) was inevitable.
"So, yes, the fight against Bergeron will mark a new beginning for me. Alexander will help me improve tactically. He also wants me to box more attractively. That is something we have been working on. The result can be seen in the ring on September 29. There will be a new Valuev."
A new Valuev with flair, poise and style to add to his awesome strength?
Hardly an easy task for a man who Zimin admits is limited in the intensity of his training by the stress placed on his joints with each massive step.
If he can pull it off it would be arguably just as remarkable an achievement as winning the world title itself.
And even the critics would be forced to acknowledge that feat.
If success is all in the mind then Ricky Hatton is already sounding convinced ahead of his super-fight with Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in December.
"Talent and skill are one thing, it's very, very good as long as you've got the space to use it, but me and (trainer) Billy (Graham) have always believed we've got the tools to do the job," the Manchester Hitman said this week. "Now I'm ready for this challenge,"
"I've had my Kostya Tszyu fight when he was the number two pound-for-pound on the planet. I've had the win against Jose Luis Castillo and the better the opponents are the better I have been. I am sure an even better Ricky Hatton will show up on December 8."
Given the boost a Hatton victory would provide for the whole of British boxing, let's hope he is right.
.........He is one big MOFO, hopefully he gets some better training.........
