Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye would agree to face Ruiz in a mandatory defence. Confirmed bouts: Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye, billed as "David vs Goliath", was a professional boxing match contested on 7 November 2009 for the WBA heavyweight championship. After regaining the WBA title with a unanimous decision over fellow former Champion John Ruiz Nikolai Valuev had made one defence gaining a very controversial majority decision over Evander Holyfield, he agreed to "Champion in Recess" Ruslan Chagaev, who had given Valuev the only defeat of career. However their fight on 30 May 2009 in Helsinki, Finland at the
Nikolai Valuev Nikolai Valuev Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev (; born 21 August 1973) is a Russian politician and former professional boxer. In boxing, he competed from 1993 to 2009, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2005 and 2009. Standing at a height of and a peak weight of , Valuev is best known for being the tallest and heaviest world champion in boxing history. Valuev was born on 21 August 1973, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). He is of ethnic Russian descent, but he also had a Tatar grandfather. Although his own parents are short—both tall—his