This seven-foot, 324 pound Russian beat John Ruiz by majority decison in Berlin on December 17, 2005 to capture the WBA heavyweight championship?

If you answered Nilolai Valuev, and I'm not sure that many of you did, you'd be right. Yes, we do have have a seven-foot, 300 pound heavyweight champ.

I remember reading about this fight after it happened but quickly filed it away as anything involving John Ruiz as champion is worthy of only a cursory glance. However, with a spate of heavyweight activity over the next 30 days (Rahman vs. Toney, Byrd vs. Wladamir Klitschko, and Shannon Briggs, Lamon Brewster all in action), I thought I'd take another look.

The 32 year-old with the monniker "The Beast from the East" is the tallest and heaviest champ in boxing history and checks in with a perfect 35-0 record, 27 of those wins coming by way of knockout. A veritable "Bear" of a man, Valuev appears athletic and reportedly hits hard with both hands and has a "telephone pole" left jab. With more exposure in the States, he'll have the depilatory endorsemant market locked up for the next 25 years.

Valuev began his career in 1993 and toiled in relative obscurity as a sideshow attraction before teaming up with German promoter Wilfred Sauerland in 2003. The turning point of his career, Valuev was not babied by Sauerland and was treated as a real fighter. Sauerland arranged proper training and Valuev was matched against opponents that actually had pulses.

Whlie Valuev's list of victims is somewhat non-descript, a third-round TKO of Clifford "The Black Rhino" Etienne and a majority decision over journeyman Larry Donald set the stage for Valuev's "Title Shot" against Ruiz. The win over Ruiz was not without controversy (116-113, 116-114, 114-114) and was booed heartily by the 10,000 strong in Berlin.

To his credit, Valuev has tried to fight everyone. He's fought twice in the US, both short knockout wins in Atlantic City and had a September 14, 2001 fight in Las Vegas cancelled due to the tragedy of 9/11. Ironically, the Vegas promoter was able to win a $180,000 breach of contract judgement against Valuev despite the fact that there was no air-traffic permitted in the US at the time.

Plans for a Valuev fight in the US are uncertain. Valuev fights a yet-to-be-announced opponent June 1st in Germany setting up a rumored title fight with Brit Danny Williams in London in September.

Never having seen Valuev fight myself, I can only reserve judgement as to whether the man is a Circus Freak or the Real Deal. I can only only hope that Valuev stays active and visible against top-notch competition. With the deporable state of boxing in general and the heavyweight division in particular, we could certainly use some new blood and someone to get excited about!

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