Valuev 317.7, Ruiz 238.9 – Boxing Weigh-In From Germany

By Erik Schmidt: With both fighters professing to have made great changes to their style of fighting, both weighed in on Friday for their bout for the vacant World Boxing Association heavyweight title on Saturday night at the Max Schmeling Halle, Prenzlauer Berg, in Berlin, Germany. The second foot Valuev weighed in at 317.7, while the shorter 6’2″ Ruiz weighed 238.9, 78 pounds lighter than the Russian giant. However, in their first fight in December 2005, Valuev outweighed Ruiz by 87 lbs, so this is hardly a new experience for Ruiz.

As for what Valuev’s secret plan for defeating Ruiz, expect Valuev to put more pressure on him, hoping to where the shorter fighter out with shots. In the last fight, Ruiz was allowed to dictate the distance of the fight, in which he constantly moved in and out of range, hitting Valuev when he pleased. Valuev did well under the circumstances, and was able to nail Ruiz often both coming and going, as well as at a distance. However, Ruiz proved effective at coming in quickly for furious exchanges with the much slower Valuev, hitting him cleanly quite often. It’s unclear what could have changed since then for Valuev, because he’s now three years older and probably even slower than he was back then.

His weight is slightly lower this time out at 317 compared to the 324 he weighed last time he fought Ruiz in 2005. However, it may not be enough of a factor to make any real difference in the outcome. Valuev isn’t much of a puncher and needs an opponent to be standing right in front of him for the entire fight so that he can maul them with his big clubbing shots. Ruiz will probably be too smart to fall into that trap, even though he asserts that he’s changed his style of fighting and is interested in a more crowd-pleasing slugging style of fighting compared to his past wrestling style.

I’m sure he’ll try to exchange shots with Valuev at close range for a brief period of time, but as soon as he starts getting hit with some of the big clubbing shots from the mammoth sized Valuev, I’m guessing that Ruiz will think better of this strategy and will opt to fight at a distance. Valuev is susceptible to fast attacks, as he’s sometimes too slow to react before taking a quick flurry of shots.

As was the case in his fight with Ruslan Chagaev, who repeatedly would storm into punching range and land two to three shots, and then scamper away before Valuev’s slower reflexes had registered the threat. However, it’s important to get away quickly, because once Valuev kick starts his offense, he’s able to generate some power on his shots, in particular with his uppercuts at close range. If he can land one of those shots to the chin of Ruiz, he may stun him enough to the point where Valuev can maul him with clubbing shots to the back of his head to put him down.