Purse bid avoided by Sauerland-Universum agreement

Press Release: Sauerland Event will stage Nikolai Valuev's  mandatory title defense in Germany on April 14, 2007. The Berlin-based promoters today came to terms with Universum Box-Promotion, who represent top-ranked challenger Ruslan Chagaev. The WBA had originally scheduled a purse bid for tomorrow after the two camps had failed to find common ground during their initial negotiations. "This won´t be necessary any more. We have come to terms with Universum today," said Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer. "Of course we wanted to present the clash on one of our [own] cards. We were also prepared for the purse bid but after reaching a contractual agreement, there is no need for it. We are staging the fight and we will work closely together with Universum." The Russian Giant last defended his WBA title in Basle on January 20 when he clinched a third-round TKO victory over Jameel McCline. Chagaev became mandatory challenger back in November following a split decision victory over John Ruiz. It´s the first meeting of the two heavyweights. Valuev, unbeaten in 47 fights (34 KOs), is just two wins shy of Rocky Marciano´s dream record. Chagaev has won 22 of 23 fights (one draw) along with 17 KOs. He gives up 10.6 inches in height.