Almost 100lbs separates Valuev and Haye at weigh in

Ian McNeilly in Nuremburg: David Haye scaled 15st 8lbs at today's weigh in for tomorrow's WBA heavyweight title clash whilst champion Nikolai Valuev was seven stones heavier at 22st 8lbs.

The exact weights, given in kilos, were 98.9 and 143.3 respectively.

The weigh in took place at the Mercado shopping centre, located in an outlying suburb of this rather picturesque Bavarian town, and was attended by a mix of hardcore boxing fans and bemused local shoppers, seemingly perplexed as to why a series of semi-naked men were being photographed and simultaneously cheered.

Haye kept fans waiting until he made his appearance and when he did, he looked in typically great nick.  Valuev looked in shape too and when the boxers' head-to-head was separated, Don King stepped between the pair and tried to hold court whilst Haye mouthed something to the non-English speaking Russian.

The boxers from the nine-fight undercard were all weighed in first, led by the only other Englishman on the bill, super-middleweight George Groves who scaled 77.1kg for his show opener against Konstantin Makhankov.  Sergey Lyakhovich has been added to the bill and is scheduled to close out the show against American journeyman Jeremy Bates.

The only man not to disrobe was John Ruiz who will fight Adnan Serin for the right to box the winner of Valuev-Haye.

The card would certainly please a German fight fan as it features a host of unbeaten Europeans, including cruiserweight Alexander Frenkel (20-0) who boxes former IBF champ Kelvin Davis.  Six of the ten matches have been made at heavyweight.