Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye

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,[2] 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 Hartwall Arena, was cancelled when Chagaev was declared medically unfit after failing a Finnish medical test, allegedly due to hepatitis, although he would go on to face Wladimir Klitschko in June losing via a 9th round RTD.

Haye had moved to the Heavyweight division after he had unified the WBA, WBC & WBO cruiserweight titles against Enzo Maccarinelli, knocking out Monte Barrett in November 2008. He was first set to face WBC Champion Vitali Klitschko,[3] then Haye agreed to face his brother Wladimir, however he pulled out with a back injury and was replaced with Chagaev. [4]

In July Valuev and Haye agreed to meet in November, despite John Ruiz claiming that he had inherited the mandatory status from Chagaev as the next highest ranked contender.[5] He would later agree to face the winner of Valuev vs Haye.

Haye was able to outmove and outbox the much slower Valuev by using a circle, stick and move strategy, which would give a majority decision victory. Haye suffered a broken hand during the fight while hitting Valuev's head, saying it was like hitting a brick wall. The win made Haye the fourth Brit to win a major heavyweight title, after Bob Fitzsimmons, Lennox Lewis, and Frank Bruno, as well as only the second former cruiserweight champion to win a heavyweight title after Evander Holyfield.[6][7]

Valuev would retire after the fight, while Haye would agree to face Ruiz in a mandatory defence.

Confirmed bouts:[8]

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
John Ruiz	Adnan Serin	Heavyweight (10 rounds)	7th-round TKO.
Francisco Palacios	DeLeon Tinsley	Cruiserweight (8 rounds)	1st-round TKO.
Robert Helenius	Taras Bidenko	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	3rd-round RTD.
Siarhei Liakhovich	Jeremy Bates	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	1st-round TKO.
George Groves	Kanstantsin Makhankou	Super Middleweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision
Alexander Frenkel	Kelvin Davis	Cruiserweight (8 rounds)	1st-round TKO.
Marcos Nader	Ciro Ciano	Middleweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous decision
Kubrat Pulev	Gbenga Oloukun	Heavyweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous decision