IT’S the big fight tonight, and by that I mean the BIG fight, given that the defending World Boxing Association heavyweight champion is none other than Russian giant Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev.

Man-mountain Valuev stands at a colossal 7ft 2ins tall, while in the opposite corner in Germany the challenger is Brit punch-packer David Haye, the former world cruiserweight champion aiming to carve out a title path in the heaviest division of the sport.

Any other time the 6ft 3in tall Haye would be regarded a pugilist of solid substance. His 22 previous and beaten opponents would testify to that.

However, whatever the camera angle, against Valuev he resembles a Lilliputian mite, a gnat waiting to bother and befuddle the gloves-wearing leviathan, who will be doing his utmost to swat the troublesome challenger.

The showdown has all the makings of a classic contest and it has predictably, though not unfavourably, been billed as David v Goliath, albeit with no sling-shots allowed or no sandals worn as in the original Biblical collision.

Jeez can you imagine just how that first spat would have been relayed to a detail-avaricious public if Sky Television had been around.

“Ladeeez ‘n’ gennelmen, here we are deep in the Sinai desert for the most eagerly-awaited bout of the year since Maximus Decimus Meridias took on those Sumerian tigers.

“The line has been drawn in the sand. Behind it at one end stands that gigantic galumph from downtown Gath, get-me-a-mortal-snack GoliaaaaaaaTHTHTH.” Cue boos, jeers and papyrus-pocked graphic recalling the champion’s previous epic encounters.

“And opposite him in nifty matching toga and headband is that prince of pebbles, that sock of ages rock-star, our very own daring, dashing, dreadnought do-gooder – the avid David.” Cue hurrahs, cheers and a camel-skin clad beauty carrying the card sporting the Roman numeral I to signify the first round.

Thank the lord of the ring that the first David v Goliath grapple was in the years BS – before satellite.

No escaping the Sky blaze of hyper-spaced hype now, unfortunately.

Since the Valuev v Haye duel was first revealed, the Sky build-up has ratcheted ever higher in intensity helped by Haye’s willingness to issue forth sound-bites snappier than a Mike Tyson ear-lobe buffet.

Almost at the drop of a glove Haye has been there, front of camera, sparring either in the ring or from the lip about what he needs to do, what he wants to do and what he is going to do to the tower-block champion.

It has been a show of bravado of barrage proportions and not all of it edifying.

Haye is an extremely marketable commodity. The Haye-maker as he likes to be billed, is brash, eloquent, and quick-witted.

But a large part of the jibe talking from Haye as to the physical attributes of his gargantuan opponent has exceeded the need to either attract an even bigger pay-per-view audience for the Sky-paymasters or indeed to even put bums on seats in the hall.

The premise of the bigger they are, they harder they will fall is a sound one from which to operate, but the insults hurled Valuev’s way have done nothing for the clean-cut reputation of the British challenger.

Still, maybe anyone facing such a mammoth mission could be forgiven for running off at the mouth. When Haye squeezes through the ropes in Nuremburg tonight he may well have hoped the Bank of England had afforded him some quantative easing to try to eradicate the physical differences between the two protagonists.

Haye, however, is a firm believer – and he damn well has to be – that he has the speed, skill and strength of punch to do what no other fighter has done in Valuev’s 52 previous bouts, and that is to knock him down.

Given too how a boxing “visitor” often labours to get a favourable decision in Germany, the adopted home of the St Petersburg-born cliff-face otherwise known as Valuev, Haye might have to send the champ crashing to the canvas to even nick a verdict on points.

It’s a classic confrontation echoing those days when a callow Cassius Clay took on the grizzled ursine warrior Sonny Liston, not huge physically but one of the sport’s most imposing presences, or even further back in boxing’s rich folklore when Max Baer took on the Italian “ambling Alp” Primo Carnera.

In those cases the giant fell like diseased Redwoods. Unfortunately, I’m fearful that the trunk and torso of the current WBA champion may well prove of meatier resistance leaving Haye facing a harsh penalty to pay for his insults.