The Ruslan Chagaev story by Eric Armit Jan 11th 2008

When is a world amateur champion not a world amateur champion? There could be a few reasons, such as failing a post-tournament drugs test, but the current WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev was stripped off his “amateur” title for the simple reason that when he competed in the 1997 World Amateur Championships in Budapest he was a professional! He had won the title the hard way, getting past future David Haye victim Giacobbe Fragomeni, and then beating the great Cuban 201 pounds fighter Felix Savon convincingly in the final. Cue great celebrations in Uzbekistan, his native country, only for the balloon to burst in spectacular style when it was revealed the Chagaev had fought twice in pro bouts in Illinois earlier in the same year and was ineligible. As Chagaev was just 19, and a national hero, the Uzbeks were not about to lose such an asset to their amateur team and a deal was brokered to allow him to be reinstated as an amateur after serving a suspension, but that deal does not change the fact the he had those fights in Illinois and that they met all of the requirements for being recognised as professional bouts, and they remain on his official record as paid bouts and not as “exhibitions” as the brokered deal had them classified. Just over ten years later Ruslan is a champion again and even more of a national treasure to Uzbekistan with President Islam Karimov declaring that “he is my son”, figuratively speaking, as I am sure Ruslan's mother Shamila would wish added, and is ready to defend his WBA heavyweight title against Matt Skelton. A lot of water flowed under the bridge after that disgrace at the 1997 World Championships and it nearly all flowed in one direction as Ruslan proved that the win over Savon was no fluke. As a 17-year-old in 1995 he had won the heavyweight gold medal at the Asian Championships which were held in his home country, and also represented Uzbekistan at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. His appearance in Atlanta was brief as he lost in the first series to Luan Krasniqi 12-4 on points; Krasniqi went on to win a bronze medal. Later in 1996 he travelled to Cuba for the Junior World Championships where he lost in the semi-finals to home fighter Yurkis Sterlin. In the middle of 1997 he was taken to the USA by some business men and turned pro on a show in Cicero, Illinois on August 21 where he kayoed reliable loser Don Pennelton in one round and two weeks later kayoed Brian Jones in Rosemount in two rounds. How much of this was known back in Uzbekistan is questionable, but it seems impossible that such a major figure should have gone to America and had two fights without the officials there being aware of it. At the time there was to all intent and purposes no internet and personal computers were very rare. However the Chairman of the Illinois Commission always sent me copies of their results sheets and I had started an index card (I said that personal computers were rare) for Chagaev as a professional, so when the results came through for the World Amateur Championships I was more that a little puzzled. However, this was not a unique occurrence. The French used to have a system whereby an amateur could box against professionals for a proscribed “trial” period being described as an “independent” and then chose to return to the amateurs. In 1993 former star amateur Alex Mirosnichenko had won 21 bouts as a professional and then gone down to Uzbekistan and fought Oleg Maskaev, then a top amateur and now the current WBC champion, and was knocked out in three rounds. At first it was accepted that this was a professional contest, but again with Maskaev being a big gun in the amateur ranks it was passed off as an “exhibition” and in 1994 Maskaev won a silver medal in the World Cup but the fight appears on his record. Additionally Nikolay Valuev boxed professionally in Germany in 1993 and competed in the 1994 Goodwill games and Ukrainian Alex Gurov had two professional fights before fighting in the World Championships. In fact since Chagaev, Maskaev and Valuev all went that way it almost appears to be a rights of passage to becoming heavyweight champion of the world. Back to Ruslan. He had impressed in beating Savon, forcing the Cuban to take a compulsory eight count and continually rocking him with lefts. The Cubans took exception to there star losing and the referee was assaulted in a ring melee. Ruslan had only a short while to savour being World amateur champion before he was found out and stripped off the title with the bout being declared a no contest and the gold medal going to Savon. After being reinstated as an amateur and given a second chance, Ruslan accepted it with both hands and was Asian champion once more in 1998. He clashed with Savon again in the World Championships in Houston in 1999 but had to settle for the bronze medal as the Cuban gained his revenge with an easy points win, but after another gold medal in the 1999 Asian championships he met Savon again in France in an event described as both the International Boxing Cup and the “French Open” and evened the score with a points win. That victory made him one of the favourites for the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but he blew his chance when despite a storming last round he suffered a shock loss to Georgian Vlad Chanturia, who went on to lose to the current IBF champion Sultan Ibragimov in the semi-finals. The following year in Belfast Ruslan made it all worthwhile as he stopped all of his opponents; including tough opponents such as German champion Vitali Boot and Ukrainian champion Alexei Mazikin (an Audley Harrison victim in the 2000 Olympics and a winner over Alex Povetkin in Belfast) to finally collect an “unsullied” World Championship gold medal. He turned professional “again” in September 2001 in Tashkent with a fourth round stoppage of the experienced Everett Martin who had been in with all of the top names, but had lost his last 18, and his progress over the next five years was steady and safe against well selected “opponents”. His first big test came in March 2006 when he went in against Vladimir Virchis with the meaningless WBA and WBO Intercontinental titles on the line. Virchis is one of the hardest punchers in the division who at the time had a 20-0 record with 17 wins inside the distance and was fresh from a points win over Michael Sprott. It was a real war with both guys handing out and shipping punishment and Ruslan just edging it on a majority verdict with the officials voting 116-112, 115-114 and 114-114. Close but enough as it moved Ruslan forward and after an impressive eighth stoppage win over Michael Sprott in July he landed a bout with John Ruiz in an eliminator for the WBA title in November. Once again it was close and hard fought but did not seem as close as the third judge had it. Ruslan was favoured by two officials with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and the third went for Ruiz 115-114. That led to the title challenge to the giant Russian Nicolay Valuev, the WBA champion, in Stuttgart last April. Against the 7'0” tall champion Ruslan fought a brilliant tactical fight but again it was a majority decision with Ruslan favoured 117-11 and 115-113 on two cards and the highly respected Stan Christodoulou having it equal at 144-114. Ruslan has not fought since then. He was scheduled to meet the IBF champion Sultan Ibragimov in a unification bout last October, but that was called off when Ruslan was diagnosed with Hepatitis B. He is cleared now and will make his first defence against Matt on January 19 in Düsseldorf. Still only 29, Ruslan is not big for a heavyweight (he is nicknamed “The White Tyson), being 6'1” tall, but is solidly built and generally comes in around the 230lbs mark (for most of his time as an amateur he fought as a heavyweight at the 201lbs limit). Matt is 6'3” and usually comes in around 255lbs so in heavyweight those terms there is not a great deal between them. One big difference is that Ruslan is a southpaw which could cause problems for Matt. Another major factor is that Matt will be 41 four days after the fight. Ruslan also has a rock hard chin as he proved against Virchis and Valuev and good stamina. His style is mainly that of a counter-puncher and he prefers to work on the outside and Matt's walk-in style is likely to suit him. He has a record of 23 wins and a technical draw (when a clash of heads left Rob Calloway with a bad cut) with 17 inside the distance, but almost all of those against opposition who would be flattered to be described as modest. However he did overpower Michael Sprott who took Matt to a split decision in July. If there is comfort for Matt it is that Ruslan has not won big in his crossroads fights. One round going the other way would have made both the Virchis and Valuev fights majority draws and the Ruiz verdict was split. However all three of these are a class above anything that Matt has faced. Styles make fights and this one is unlikely to be pretty with the champion deservedly being a heavy favourite and I can see him winning some where around the mid point.

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apologies! Jan 13th 2008, 05:59:54 by jbslegend many apologies kevin/eric. egg on my face or what?! i got the dates wrong. i guess im just too angry about the blank amount of coverage heavyweight boxing gets from the mainstream press, who then hypocritically tend to announce how 'once heavyweights were a household name and now no one knows who they are' when they themselves are the main reason for it. didnt mean to be abrasive! look forward to your articles on the fight   wow! a mention of tonights fight! Jan 12th 2008, 10:50:04 by jbslegend ok eric - at least you mentioned it. did this site, supposedly british oriented, forget that tonight matt skelton fights for the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CROWN? what a joke. not only does the mainstream press completely ignore it, but a site devoted to british boxing does too! well done all concerned. thanks for your article eric, but seeing as this is a big night for big matt - you could have at least mentioned a bit of his story too. or how about even a 'good luck matt'? Thanks for the comments.. Just a quick note!! The fight is next weekend, the 19th and we will be previewing it and also will have a full fight report after the fight. - Kevin, Site Owner