This time, New York is the No. 2 seed after ending Boston's five-year reign as divisionchampion and won three of the four meetings in the regular season.
"Valuev was a great champion and an amazing attraction but today is really the beginning of a new time for the heavyweight division and the sport of boxing, " said Schaefer, who is chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions.
New York believed it could make a deep run in the playoffs, and gained further confidence by knocking the Southeast Divisionchampion Capitals in the first round despite not having home-ice advantage.