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Confronted by the gargantuan size and Neanderthal features of Nikolai Valuev — 7ft, 23st, protruding forehead and thick coat of body hair — Clifford Etienne, an American heavyweight of limited ambition, made his deal with the Devil. “Nobody told me I was taking on Bigfoot,” he cried as he sat down in the hotel bar and began drinking, adamant that the bout was off. He had encountered Valuev for the first time at the weigh-in and only the ability of 6ft 7in former heavyweight titleholder Henry Akinwande to block the door dissuaded Etienne from taking the first plane home to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “It won’t be so bad,” Akinwande assured him. Etienne was stopped in three rounds 24 hours later and has not fought in four years since.

Larry Donald, another American, performed better against Valuev — the Russian won by a majority points decision after 12 rounds — but his testimony will provide no comfort to David Haye, the 6ft 3in, 16st British challenger who faces a mountainous task against the World Boxing Association (WBA) champion on Saturday at the Nuremburg Arena.

“I never faced a man like Valuev ... I never seen a man like him either. He’s like Neanderthal man, something from the Dark Ages,” Donald declared. “He was able to make it look, just by his sheer size, that he was hitting me even when he wasn’t.” So intimidated was the inappropriately named Gerald Nobles when he came face-to-navel with Valuev that he deliberately aimed blows to Valuev’s knees to get himself disqualified.

So what can Haye hope to do against a behemoth who, with a sideways glance, could make Shrek cry for his mammy. Haye is a former world cruiserweight (14st) champion facing the largest heavyweight ever to hold a version of the world title.

The 29-year-old from Bermondsey, south London, does not lack confidence. “In his last fight I thought that Evander Holyfield beat him easily,” Haye insisted. “For a 46-year-old to be able to run rings around him and set traps for him doesn’t say a lot for Valuev’s credentials. The guy is a novelty, a physical freak, and is not to be taken seriously. This is a guy who couldn’t beat John Ruiz convincingly, something which Roy Jones — a light-heavyweight — did easily. Believe me, I’m not losing any sleep.”

For all his freakish size, the 36-year-old Beast from the East does not punch his weight. His jab can be ponderous and predictable and his right crosses lack the dexterity to be a pulverising weapon. Just by standing still, however, he surrounds opponents and, in the eyes of the judges, this can form an illusion of dominance. “David won’t be overawed by the occasion nor by Valuev’s size, and his speed will be the key,” says Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer. “No question that David punches hard enough — he showed that when he stopped Monte Barrett in five rounds last November and Tomasz Bonin in the first round in 2007.”

Haye was knocked down by Barrett during a ferocious fight before winning. “David lost his discipline against Barrett,” says Booth. “That was not the way we had planned for him to fight, though it was exciting for the crowd and that’s what people love to see, a toe-to-toe slugfest, especially with heavyweights. In this fight David will be much more disciplined and his speed and Valuev’s lack of finesse will wear down the giant in incremental steps.”

Reservations can be expressed in regard to Haye’s chin and durability. In his seventh fight an unheralded African super-middleweight called Lolenga Mock had him in serious trouble before he rallied and prevailed in the fourth round. Four fights later Carl Thompson, a former cruiserweight titleholder, stopped him in the fifth round even though the 40-year-old was at the end of his career. Jean-Marc Mormeck floored Haye before the Frenchman was stopped in the seventh round. The shootout with Barrett was like something from the wild west. Haye was dropped by a left hook in round five before Barrett delivered another left hook while his opponent was on the floor, costing the American a point and giving Haye more time to recover. Seconds later Barrett was taken out with a left-right-left combination. Haye knows, though, that living dangerously in the land of the big men offers no guarantees.

His gunslinger’s attitude has elevated him above the uninspiring list of heavyweight contenders and that is why he has secured a title shot so quickly after relinquishing his cruiserweight crown.

But could this also be his downfall? If he does not win quickly, can he stay strong into the late rounds against a substantially bigger man who will smother much of his work and lean on him heavily in the clinches? The former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said: “Haye needs to be elusive — you can’t hit what you can’t catch and, with his skills, he can expose this monster of a man. He has to be clever and use his assets — his fitness, great footwork and combination punching — and, if he does this, I believe he will win.”

Only Ruslan Chagaev, a former world amateur champion from Uzbekistan, has beaten Valuev in 52 fights, exploiting his vulnerability to movement and sharp bursts of accurate blows. Chagaev appeared two or three divisions smaller when they squared up but his robustness was crucial and his resolve held. “I had Valuev when he was little more than a circus act and he intimidated people. I mean, he was frightening just to look at,” recalled pint-sized promoter Frank Maloney.

“There was just one problem ... he couldn’t fight,” he added.

Heavyweight boxing today does not discriminate against mediocrity and Valuev, the unlikely successor to Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, has been packaged as cruelly as the sad Primo Carnera once was.

The “Ambling Alp” was a pawn in the hands of mobsters who controlled the sport in the 1930s and recognised the value of an Italian who stood 6ft 6in when the average height of his countrymen was 5ft 5in. Carnera won the world heavyweight title from Jack Sharkey in 1933 and suffered 11 knockdowns when he lost his belt to Max Baer in 1934.

If Haye can inflict similar damage to the man the promoter Don King refers to as the Eighth Wonder of the World, he will be entitled to challenge either Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko, the true champions of the division, next year — dubious reward for the slaying of a giant. Let’s just hope that Britain’s challenger can do better than Etienne.