- A week has passed since Nikolai lost the championship belt. But it seems that the boxer himself and his coach Manvel Gabrielyan are still in an emotional knockout.
- Both are really very worried. It takes time to comprehend all the details of the battle with Chagaev and draw the right conclusions. Manvel went home to Armenia. And Nicholas is now in Berlin, where he is undergoing a course of medical recovery. He will come home at the end of next week and will fully devote himself to his family.
- Didn’t you try to arrange for Nikolai immediately after the fight several meetings with a psychologist who would soften this hard blow for the psyche of the boxer?
- The role of a psychologist for Kolya was very well performed by Don King. Immediately after the battle, the whole team went to the locker room. King also came with us. It seems that he knew better than anyone how to behave in a similar situation: he didn’t go a step away from Nikolai, constantly said something to him, encouraged him. And so for almost five hours. In the end, he even began to joke so that no one had the strength to restrain laughter. The tension subsided by itself. Frankly, this behavior of the American was a revelation.
- The fight with Chagaev, as far as is known, was the last for King in the role of co-promoter Valuev. Now will the Sauerland Events deal with Nicholas?
- Just the other day, King again signed an agreement with the Germans, according to which until the end of 2008, that is, until the end of our contract, Wilfried Sauerland will remain the co-promoter of Nikolai. I will not hide, for us this is very good news.
“Do you expect King to make Valuev champion again?”
- Kolya will win the belt again without any help. After losing to Chagaev, he takes second place in the WBA ranking. Ruslan is the champion, the first is vacant. It turns out that Nikolai is already a mandatory challenger. But, since according to the rules of the association, the champion after winning the belt has the right to carry out voluntary defenses during the year, we have to wait a while. During this time, we’ll do a good job, we’ll conduct a couple of rating battles, the first of which will most likely take place this fall, and we will return the belt in a year.
- But it’s not very clear yet, due to what Nikolay can progress. In the battle with Chagaev, he sometimes looked bewildered. And, most importantly, there was no one to give practical advice ...
- Now will be. It has already been decided that Nikolai will have a new coach. Most likely, an American whose name will become known at the end of May. I don’t want to remove from Kolya the blame for the defeat. But Gabrielian acted unprofessionally in the corner of the ring: no tactics, no corrections. A continuous scream. We invited foreign specialists at different stages of Kolya’s career, but it didn’t work out well. They could not become part of our team, they lived somehow distantly. For Kolya, Manvel has always been more than a coach. But now there is no way out: we still need a specialist who will be responsible for tactics, strategy, psychology, and, well, maybe still teach our boxer how to beat right.
- Vladimir Klitschko after the defeat of Nicholas said: “Valuev without a belt is not interesting to me.” So, the fans will never see the fight of these boxers?
- Yes, he did not want to fight with Kolya! So, with a tongue he ground so as not to be branded a coward. And as for specific decisions - pulled the rubber. But nothing, we still get Klitschko. Negotiations are underway with the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the belt of which is owned by the Ukrainian heavyweight, so that Nikolay can hold fights according to their version. If we agree, Valuev may become a mandatory contender for the Klitschko title. And he will have nowhere to hide, he will simply be trapped. Unless, of course, the belt by that time does not lose.
Andrey IVANTSOV