According to King, the Russian Is Coming

Whenever it hits the doldrums, boxing always manages to come up with something to snap a few heads.

Nikolay Valuev is that latest something.

The giant Russian is the new World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, having taken the title from John Ruiz with a controversial victory on points Saturday night in Max Schmeling Arena in Berlin.

Valuev, 7 feet and a shade over 323 pounds, is known as “the Beast from the East,” but prefers to be seen as “a sportsman and not a monster.”

Ruiz was thinking more in automotive terms. “He’s got a head the size of a Volkswagen,” Ruiz said before the fight. “I can’t miss hitting him.”

Much to the crowd’s displeasure, the judges scored the bout for the 32-year-old Valuev.

Now, Ruiz’s promoter, the ever-loquacious Don King, wants to bring “the Beast from the East” west. “He’s ready, and we want America to know that he’s coming,” King said.

More Beastly: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times said Ruiz, who is a foot shorter than the Russian, “also made punching history of sorts, going 0 for 43 on uppercuts.”

Trivia time: Named world champion for 2005 by the International Tennis Federation, Roger Federer is the sixth man to win in consecutive years. Who were the first five?

Something fishy: Using rod and reel, fisherman and author Mark Everard has landed a British-record catch -- a 4 1/2 -inch minnow that weighed in at half an ounce, the Times of London reported.

“It fought with Hemingway proportions, but I managed to land it safely after a few seconds,” Everard told the newspaper. It was the largest minnow ever caught.

Strange, those Brits.

But, Dad ... : Watching the previously unbeaten Colts falter against the San Diego Chargers at Indianapolis on Sunday was Archie Manning.

The loss cost his son Peyton the chance at an unbeaten season, but the elder Manning’s thoughts were on the undefeated Miami Dolphins of 1972, whose record remains intact.

“I’ve got a lot of friends on that team,” he said. “That was my era. This was great for them. There are a lot of 8-, 9- and 10-year-old kids playing football who didn’t know a thing about that. They might be discovered all over again now.”

On top Down Under: Who are Australia’s top-earning athletes?

Well, Greg Norman, for one. The Shark’s golf-related income was $14.9 million in 2005, according to Business Review Weekly.

Second in the annual survey was Liverpool soccer forward Harry Kewell at $9.3 million, followed by tennis star Lleyton Hewitt at $9 million. Fourth was Joe Hachem. Hachem’s “sport” is poker, and he earned $7.4 million playing it this year.

Trivia answer: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Hewitt.

And finally: Taking note of a Philadelphia Eagle receiver’s recent appearance in GQ, Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun asked, “If the magazine includes interviews with guys like Terrell Owens, why is it called Gentleman’s Quarterly?”