by Mark Lovell: Promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl of Universum has mentioned the possibility of suing the WBA over the perceived shut-out of his fighter, Ruslan Chagaev. Chagaev, 32, recently defeated Kali Meehan in an elimination bout but negotiations between him and current WBA champion David Haye never got off the ground. “Ruslan is still the WBA mandatory challenger for world champion David Haye,” Kohl told German periodical Abendblatt. “I’m curious to see how the WBA justifies allowing Haye to take a title unification against Wladimir Klitschko. We will not simply accept this…the WBA sanctioned an eliminator, which Ruslan boxed in and I paid the fees. We demand this to be respected and not circumvented.“
The Uzbeki who goes by the name “White Tyson“ captured the WBA Heavyweight belt from the 46-0 Nikolay Valuev in 2007. He defended the title twice beating Matt Skelton and Carl Davis Drummond, whereupon the WBA set up a rematch between him and 7 foot Valuev in Finland – the discovery that he carries the Hep B strain, however, meant the Finnish boxing authorities would not sanction the bout. The WBA then made its belt vacant and conferred the title of “Champion In Recess“ on Chagaev – Valuev would go on to recapture his belt by defeating John Ruiz in Berlin, ironically where Chagaev with his illness would have been able to fight in the first place. Chagaev, then ranked #3 in the world by the Ring Magazine, would face Wladimir Klitschko and by defeated for the first time in his career. He has fought twice since, wins over Meehan and Travis Walker at locations in Germany, but has had a hard time getting the attention and respect from the organizing bodies a durable fighter with an unpaded 27-1-1 record would expect.
Even in the months where David Haye had proclaimed he had „given up“ on fighting the Klitschkos, it never seemed his camp were serious about facing Chagaev. The Hepatitis B concern was repeatedly raised, and the British Board of Boxing made it clear in January it would not approve a fight between Haye and Chagaev due to the latter having the virus. Doctors for the fighter point out he is a merely a “carrier“ who has never had the liver syndromes associated with sufferers of the disease and there are common, simple vaccinations (taken by Klitschko amongst other opponents) which prevent infection. In addition, the World Boxing Association has the power to demand its champion face his mandatory opponent elsewhere – after all, other opponents have felt no reason to use the virus as an excuse to avoid a fight with Chagaev and most national boxing bodies have no problems staging the fights – however know such statement has been forthcoming.
The fact that the WBA have been none too vocal in making sure the British champ meets Chagaev before April leads one to believe they, along with the majority of boxing fans, are salivating over a megafight between the brash Hayemaker and Dr Steelhammer. Nonetheless to ignore Chagaev would discredit the WBA’s elimination bouts, its rankings and further reduce the validity and value of its titles to fighters and promoters. In addition, there are many who believe the unglamorous Uzbeki with his southpaw stance and proven chin and stamina could well be more than a match for a largely untested Haye – at the very least, he would be the youngest and most skilled opponent he had yet faced at heavyweight. It seems a high risk, low reward fight for the man who has scarcely six months to „clear out the heavyweight division“ before his self-imposed retirement date.
A logical solution would be for Haye would abandon or be stripped of his WBA title and fight Klitschko for the IBF, WBO and IBO belts with Chagaev fighting Povetkin for the vacated belt – however, this seems unlikely given the enthusiasm for a linear champion. More probable is Chagaev getting some step-aside money – add the rumours that the Haye will soon be dubbed “Super Champion“ with Mormeck and Povetkin to fight over the “regular“ Heavyweight World Champion and it would appear “White Tyson“ put out into pasture again. Unless the WBA finds a new-found respect for its own eliminators, it seems that the tough 27-1-1 “Champion In Recess“ will be without a dance partner for the foreseeable future.