Nikolai Valuev was born in Saint Petersburg on the 21st of August 1973. In the kindergarten he was a head taller than the tallest boys in the group. In the first form at school Nikolai was the same height as his teacher. Although his teacher was not a tall woman, their similar height was impressive to other people. Interestingly, Nikolai`s parents are not tall people at all. His mother, Nadezhda Mixailovna, is only 2cm lower than his father, Sergei Nikolaevich, who was 1.68 meters tall. Seemingly, Nikolai could inherit his height from his grandfather, who was over 2 meters tall, but unfortunately all of his photos were burnt during the blockade of Leningrad. As a child, Nikolai liked playing football with his friends and hockey in winter. Nikolai remembers that it was difficult for him to play different kinds of games with other boys, as they were quicker and smarter than he was; due to his bigger habarites he was slower and couldn’t follow them in the games at the high speed they played. At school Nikolai also went in for some other kinds of sports, such as basketball and athletics, in particular discuss throwing. When the future boxer finished school, he studied in the sports academy for two years. He graduated from it successfully and entered the Institute named after P.V. Lesgaft in Saint Petersburg, but had to stop studying there for some time due to a tight sports schedule. Nikolai took a decision to start serious boxing training when he was 20. My first training took placed in spring of 1993. It was difficult for him to deal with the new kind of sport at that age. His first trainer Oleg Shalaev soon became his manager and promoter at the same time. There was a period when Oleg Shalaev had many fights in Germany. Because of his fight style Germans gave him a nickname “Pitbul”. Nikolai`s first steps in boxing were done under his guidance and influence. Nikolai`s debut at the ring took place on the 15th of October 1993 in Berlin. That day he had a fight with the American boxer John Morton. Nikolai won the fight in knock – out in the 2nd round. After a number of competitions he was fighting at the championship of Russia in 1994 and became the silver winner. Being a member of the combined team of Russia he participated that year in the Goodwill Games. There the Russian boxer was noticed by the international committee, which disqualified me. It was the reason then why my first fight in Berlin was recognized as professional. So, it was a sign of fate that he had to go in for professional boxing. Boxing gave Nikolai an opportunity to travel around the world. He had fights in a great number of countries, such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Czechia, German, Ukraine. However, his first significant fight he won in Russia. In 1999 in his native town he won the title of the champion of Russia. Next year he won the title of the champion of the world in PAN-Asian Boxing Association. Finally, he asserted this title five times. Since 2000 year Nokilai has trained under guidance of the well-deserved trainer of Armenia Manvel Oganesovich Gabrielyan. In 2004 Nikolai won the title of Intercontinental champion of WBA version. In 2004 he also signed a contract with the famous German promoter Wilfried Sauerland. Known as “the Beast from the East” in the West, Nikolai hates being called like that. “My mom and dad named me Nikolai. My family name is Valuev. All the rest is bull,” he has said once. Nikolai is married and has a son, Grisha.