Think you know Nikolay Valuev? A big lump? Slow? Ponderous? Basic? Alexander Zimin would beg to differ.

When Valuev makes the second defence of his second reign as WBA heavyweight champion against David Haye in Nuremberg on Saturday, the 6ft 3in Londoner hopes a significant speed advantage will make up for a lack of inches. But Zimin has spent the past two years turning the 7ft Russian into his own idea of a classic boxer.

They make an odd little-and-large pairing, a comedy double act with two straight men. Zimin is all overblown enthusiasm and busy to the point of being twitchy. Valuev, 36, is so laid-back that nothing fazes him.

Zimin barely comes up to Valuev’s waist; when the boxer sits on his stool between rounds, he is still taller than his trainer. But he controls every aspect of Valuev’s training camp, from fitness to technique, tactics, eating and even the hours that “the Beast from the East” sleeps.

“We’re using different methods in training,” Zimin said. “He used to do too much training that was bad. We have worked on special preparations that are good for Nikolay, good for his size and good for his age. Nikolay is Nikolay, he’s a big guy and he’s different from anyone else.

“Every morning Nikolay runs a 2.5km circuit five times, then, after breakfast, he trains two times each day. We keep to the same times, eating, sleeping the same time.

“Before, he ate too much. Now he eats normal amounts. He lost about 10kg, his best weight is about 142kg [22st 5lb]. Nikolay used to move very slowly. Now the body is changing and Nikolay is faster.”

Once a trainer with the mighty Soviet Union Olympic boxing team, Zimin had been working in Japan, where he trained boxers nearer his own size. He was first asked into the Valuev team to work with Manuel Gabrielyan, his predecessor, but the trainers’ ideas clashed.

When Ruslan Chagaev took Valuev’s WBA title via a controversial majority points decision in 2007, it seemed like the game could be up, but Valuev chose to give sole training responsibilities to Zimin.

It was a remodelling job on an epic scale, but Zimin believes that the changes he has put into effect have had an impact. He has worked on getting Valuev slimmer and fitter, increasing his speed and punching output and reworking his technique.

“Before, he didn’t really understand what he had to do, he spent too much time thinking what he had to do,” Zimin said. “Now he understands and he is technically much better and can do it on instinct.”

The change was instant, as he returned with a one-sided points win over Sergei Liakhovich, the former WBO champion, and then regained the WBA title, continuing his improvement with a points win over John Ruiz.

Things were not so good in his most recent bout, against Evander Holyfield in Zurich last December, when he won a majority decision. But Valuev had objected to facing the 46-year-old four-times champion, seeming demotivated and reluctant to punch.

“Now he has a good jab, he’s a classic boxer,” Zimin said. “Against Holyfield, after round five, Nikolay started using the jab better and Holyfield could not touch him.

“David Haye is different. He’s a good boxer, very speedy, but we have prepared for that. He’s a little bit the same as Holyfield, but Holyfield had a good defence and David Haye’s chin is not as good.

“Nikolay has had experience that will make him ready for Haye. Now he has [had] three fights with me, we understand each other. Haye is quite similar to Ruiz, just a little bit different.”

But can someone as comparatively small as Haye, who held the WBC, WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles, hold any fears for Valuev’s trainer? Zimin’s answer is a simple no; however big Haye’s sparring partners have been, he does not believe that they will prepare him for the real thing.

“When a cruiserweight spars with a heavyweight, they might make them look slow,” Zimin said. “But that does not mean that they will be slow in a real fight.”

Q & A:

How tall is Nikolay Valuev?

The official answer is 7ft. Some people write that he is 7ft 2in, but that figure seems to originate from a bit of US wrestling-style exaggeration. Perhaps they didn’t think that 7ft was big enough.

But 7ft is massive.

It certainly is in boxing terms. Primo Carnera, the Italian known as “the Ambling Alp”, was considered a monster and he was only 6ft 5Kin. The biggest world champion in history behind Valuev is Vitali Klitschko and he is 5in shorter than the Russian.

Who is the biggest boxer David Haye has faced before?

In his professional career, it was Enzo Maccarinelli, who is 6ft 4in, in his world cruiserweight title unification bout last year. His heavyweight opponents have all been the same height as Haye (6ft 3in) or shorter.

And how much weight is he going to be giving away?

No one is really sure because Haye has been putting on weight and Valuev has been losing it. Haye’s career-high weight is 15st 7lb and it is unlikely he will be much more because he will need to keep his speed. Valuev’s heaviest weight for a bout was 24st 12lb, but for his most recent contest he weighed 22st 2lb and Alexander Zimin, his trainer, has had him on a diet.

But can such a big man be hurt?

Well you presume he can, but no one has proved it so far. There is a video on the internet claiming to show him being rocked by Gerard Nobles, but Valuev just looked off balance. Nobles was disqualified for low punching soon after.

How has anyone beaten him?

He lost a close points decision in 2007 to Ruslan Chagaev, whose tactics were essentially hit and run. The other blot on Valuev’s record is against Andreas Sidon in Prague in 1999. The referee stopped it in Valuev’s favour in the third round, but after crowd protests, they continued for the full six rounds without a referee — boxing’s equivalent of a beer match — so it was declared a no-contest.

Why did he not win a world title until he was in his 30s?

Most promoters saw him as a freak attraction, rather than a serious boxer. He boxed all around the world, from Atlantic City to Seoul and Sydney to London before Sauerland, his German promoter, started backing him.

London?

He boxed on two Frank Maloney shows at Battersea Town Hall and York Hall in 1996. Oddly, John Ruiz, from whom he won the WBA heavyweight title in 2005, was also on the show at York Hall.

Why did Maloney let him go?

Maloney invented the nickname “the Beast from the East”, but he stopped promoting him after the agent who had brokered the deal died in mysterious circumstances. “I valued my life and decided I was better off not making a play for him,” Maloney said. “We have met since and he always thanked me for the opportunity — but not the nickname.”