By Alexey Sukachev

According to the Interfax Russian media agency, former two-time WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev may enter the political ranks by the end of the year. The world’s biggest boxing champion ever could either enter the State Duma or St. Petersburg’s General Court somewhere in December as a part of the “United Russia” political party.

“Nikolay Valuev is considered to be one of the candidates for taking part in the party’s primaries”, confirmed Dmitry Yuryev to an Interfax journalist. Yuryev is the leader of St. Petersburg’s branch of the party. “Nikolay is an active member of our organization, and he takes part in various political activities”. Yuryev also added that only Valuev will make the final decision whether or not he pursues a political career.

It’s worth noting that it’s a modern Russian tradition for the governing party to employ the country’s top sportsmen as so-called “locomotives” for future elections. Among those who were (or who are) resided in the State Duma were Alexander Karelin (universally considered as the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time), Alina Kabaeva (Russia’s most successful rhythmic gymnast to date) and Svetlana Khorkina (two-time Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics).