WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev has a record of 46-0 with 34 knockouts, yet he still can’t get any respect, especially from American fans. The overwhelming fear of many of these fans is the thought that a 7-footer from Russia could beat all-American boy Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0 and then retire. Valuev has been called everything in the book, including “Neanderthal, freak show and circus act.”

So far the Neanderthal, freak show, and circus act has done nothing but win, and in pretty convincing fashion. On April 14, from the Porsche-Arena in Stuttgart, Germany, Valuev, 33, will look to continue his unprecedented ride to the top when he takes on WBA #1 challenger, Ruslan “White Tyson” Chagaev (22-0-1 17 KO’s).

Chagaev, 28, was born in Uzbekistan but now lives in Hamburg, Germany. Chagaev had quite an interesting start to his boxing career. In 1997 he took two fights in America against less than stellar opponents, but won them both and they were credited to his professional record. He successfully had these fights changed to “exhibition” fights so he could go back to the amateur ranks, yet these fights are still listed on his official overall record. Because of his professional fights, he was stripped of an amateur title in which he beat the legendary Cuban heavyweight Felix Savon to win the title. He was officially reinstated as an amateur in 1998, where he continued to find success, winning a slew of national and world titles before officially turning pro in 2001.

He gained the nickname “White Tyson” for the way he was knocking out all challengers much the same way a young Mike Tyson did. His only draw came on his record by way of a fight with Rob Calloway in 2002. In what should have been a TKO victory, Camp Calloway said the cut he had sustained had been from a head butt and they had the result changed to a technical draw. Chagaev would get his KO victory over Calloway in 2006, this time no questions asked in a TKO 3 victory.

Chagaev earned his title shot by beating former three time WBA champion John Ruiz in a title elimination shot. It has been said that it is impossible to look good against Ruiz in a fight, and the same thing happened to Chagaev. Much of the boxing world was thinking, and maybe some even hoping, that Chagaev would be able to knockout the fighter who is more known for clinching than his three titles. Ruiz actually came out more active than usual, but still did not stray too far away from his clutch and grab style. At the end Chagaev walked away with a hard earned split decision and a chance to meet Valuev for his title.

Valuev has come under fire of late, particularly for his outing against John Ruiz. Ruiz once again found a way to make the fight close all the way down to the wire, but this time he lost a majority decision to Valuev. In a fight that was hard to score, Valuev did the most damage, which was evident by the swelling of Ruiz’s face. Valuev was also able to hurt Ruiz late in the 12^th round with a counter right hand, something many Ruiz opponents can’t do despite their best efforts.

The Ruiz fight was at the end of 2005 and since then Valuev has looked much more effective. He has beat American fighters Owen Beck, Monte Barrett, and Jameel McCline, not exactly a” murderer’s row” of challengers, but he defeated them all in a manner he should have.

The only questionable result of these three fights came against McCline in his last fight this past January. Valuev had won the first two rounds, but McCline started coming on strong before tripping over the foot of Valuev in the closing seconds of the round. McCline had suffered a serious knee injury which could cause him to be out of action for a year. The fight was awarded a TKO victory for Valuev, but under WBA rules, and I’m paraphrasing, a fight should be ruled a no-contest if a fight is ended by a result other than a punch thrown. Either way, it is impossible to tell what would have happened if the fight would have continued, but as it stands, Valuev is still the champ, and still undefeated.

The bettors are putting their money on Valuev, and that is probably a fair choice. Despite Chagaev’s impressive ride to a title shot, he is still virtually unknown to many fans outside of Europe. Besides that though, Valuev has about a foot height advantage, and could have upwards of a 100 pound weight advantage come fight night. Chagaev may have his moments early, even testing Valuev’s chin a couple of times, but it is not hard to imagine a scenario where Valuev’s size eventually wears down the much smaller man. This is nothing against Chagaev; he clearly has the skills to still make a good run at other championship belts in his career, but he more than likely is not wrestling the strap away from Valuev.

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