Nikolai Valuev Biography

Nikolái Sergéyevich Valúev is a Russian retired professional boxer, actor, politician, and author. One of the most decorated heavyweights of all time, he had been active in a professional capacity from 1993 to 2009. Born to parents of average heights (both 1.67 m tall), Valuev, towering at 2.14 m, took after his legendary Tatar great-grandfather, “a warrior giant of Russian folklore”. As a young boy growing up in the turbulent last years of Soviet Russia, he found the perfect outlet for all his pent-up energy in sports, playing water polo, basketball, and discus throw. He started to train in boxing rather late, when he was 20 years old. In 1993, he had his debut professional bout against John Morton. The victorious outcome of that match heralded a dominant career for Valuev who would win his first international title, the PABA Interim Heavyweight Championship, in 2000, defeating Yuriy Yelistratov via unanimous decision. He is also two times WBA Heavyweight Champion as well as one-time WBA-NABA Heavyweight Champion. He announced his retirement in 2009 following his defeat against David Haye. Since then, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to bring him back into the ring, but he seems to be perfectly content with his post-boxing employments, both as a Duma member for the United Russia Party, and as the host of the kids’ TV show ‘Good Night, Little Ones’.