Following his retirement in 2009 on the back of losing to David Haye, ex-heavyweight ruler Nikolai Valuev has been dipping his toes into TV work.
The 7ft giant, who lost just twice in 52 contests, is now enjoying duel roles as a political figure in his native Russia whilst being one of several lead presenters on a kids TV show.
Nikolai Valuev – kids TV presenter
‘Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi!’, translating into English as ‘Good Night, Little Ones!’ has been running on Russian TV since 1964 and decided to offer Valuev a role in 2016.
Since then, 44 year-old Valuev has made several appearances alongside fluffy puppets after admitted the show was one he watched as a youngster back in the day.
“How could I have dreamed in my childhood that I would become the leader of my favorite program. So, good night, kids,” wrote Valuev on his Instagram page when taking up the position last year.
Heavyweight champion
Valuev’s latest appearance came over the summer, when the ex-Evander Holyfield conqueror posted a video of himself addressing the children at home.
When he retired eight years ago, the boxing world were somewhat surprised as Valuev had a potential rematch to challenge Haye on UK soil, but he opted instead to hang up his considerably large gloves.
As well as against Haye in the famous ‘David versus Goliath’ event, Valuev lost only to Ruslan Chagaev in 2007 on the back of putting together an impressive 46-0 record to strike fear into the top division.
Now it seems that fear is well and truly gone as the skyscaper of a man has been tamed by the ‘Little Ones’ he now says ‘Good Night’ to on the show.
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