by James Slater: Tonight, in Dusseldorf, Germany, WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev met challenger Matt Skelton. What followed was a hard-fought and quite intriguing battle between two determined and well conditioned big men that saw the world champ retaining his belt via a unanimous 12 round decision. The scores were 117-111 twice and 117-110.
In defeat, however, Skelton proved two things – one, he is a man that looks darned near impossible to KO, and two, he would more than likely give any heavyweight out there a tough, tough night’s work.
In the early going, a surprise choice of tactics by the 40-year-old saw Skelton boxing and looking for spots, as apposed to charging in and trying to out-muscle Chagaev as most thought he would do before hand. Indeed, it was quite startling to see Skelton landing and throwing short and snappy punches. At times, big Matt was even looking to counter-punch the counter-puncher – something no-one would have predicted pre-fight..
After a good early start by the Brit, Chagaev’s superior class took over, though. Landing some superbly timed left hands, “The white Tyson” jarred and tested Skelton’s chin on a number of occasions. Having said that, the challenger was never out of his depth or made to look foolish in there – as many of Matt’s critics said he would be going in.
Ruslan knew he was in a tough fight, and showed how hard going things were via his open mouth and obvious fatigue. The champion also had a noticeable mark beneath his right eye. Skelton’s own right eye was also banged up a touch. Skelton did try and make the fight a physical affair in the mid-to-late rounds, roughing the champion up and landing thudding blows on the inside. Skelton’s work-rate kept him in the fight, but Chagaev’s cleaner work won him the more points.
A one point deduction occurred in round 8, when Panamanian referee, Guillermo Perez Pineda, penalised Matt for holding and hitting. It was a fair call, one that served to make the gulf in scoring even wider in the 29-year-old’s favour. Both men battled it out to the final bell, and the fight was never the ugly brawling type of wrestling match many had feared it would be.
Chagaev did stun Skelton on occasion, most noticeably in rounds 7 and ten, when fast-handed shots got through and briefly wobbled the British fighter. Matt was never in danger of being stopped, however, and made Chagaev work every minute of every round.
In the end it was a well earned win for Chagaev, but, it must be said, he never looked a million dollars in there. Still, he remains both WBA champion and an unbeaten fighter. It may be that Ruslan will continue getting the job done without ever looking spectacular in the ring. A fight between he and any of the other reigning world champions would certainly be interesting. In winning tonight, Chagaev improved to 24-0-1(17).
In losing and falling to 21-2(18) Skelton acquitted himself well and proved that he was certainly a worthy and formidable world title challenger. Should he wish to carry on boxing, there is a future for Matt Skelton, without a doubt.