by James Slater: No doubt the majority of fight fans out there will have believed 39-year-old Oleg Maskaev was all but done as a fighter after his March stoppage loss to Samuel Peter. Not only was “The Big O” comprehensively beaten, but the losing fight also came after a number of postponements had been forced on the ageing fighter due to injuries.. With his title gone and time very much against him at his current age, it was assumed by most that Maskaev’s retirement announcement would be forthcoming. But no, this is not the case at all.
In a recent news article on FightNews, details were revealed of how the former champion is now back in training. Maskaev is training for his next fight – the details of which: opponent, date and venue, are not yet known – in a town called Saransk in Russia. Apparently Maskaev will be doing his conditioning work at Mordovia Sports Centre. Can the man with the big right hand once again become a big time player in the heavyweight division?
Although Maskaev was beaten well inside the distance by “The Nigerian Nightmare” back in their fight that took place in Mexico in March, Oleg had his moments before he was stopped. Always dangerous, particularly with his key weapon, which is, of course, his right hand, the veteran can never be totally counted out in any fight. Sure, he’s as old as they come and his body has had more than its share of injuries – his oft-plagued back especially – but Maskaev is a fighter who will always have a puncher’s chance.
It’s not clear who, if any of the current top-ten at heavyweight, would want to face Maskaev. With no reward but more than a touch of risk involved, a meeting with the former champ would not appeal to all that many of the upper echelon big men. As such it will be interesting to see who Maskaev gets it on with in his latest comeback fight. And comebacks are not something Oleg is unused to. He’s been written off before, only to shock the odds and win the WBC crown against Hasim Rahman. Not too long before that fight, Maskeav had had a heap of bad results – results that at one point saw him losing a number of KO setbacks. But Oleg refused to give up, got some serious momentum going and wound up winning not only the WBC belt but also Ring magazine’s comeback of the year award for 2006.
Of course, this successful comeback run took place at a time when Maskaev was a fair deal younger than he is now, and it’s doubtful the big guy will be able to find that form again. Still, with what he’s done in the past Oleg Maskaev perhaps deserves the benefit of the doubt with regards to his making good yet again.