I like Chagaev's Southpaw stance and the guy has a little head movement and decent foot work for a Heavyweight. After he heals I think he would give Vitali or Wlad a tougher fight than anyone else in the Heavyweight Division.
Valuev? No. I'm interested in Chagaev, I think he's a good fighter and this fight showed it. I want to see him back, its unfortunate whats happened.
Yeah,I like him too,he's a good fighter but I think that Valuev fight was his peak,he showed up totally out of shape with Skelton and looked ordinary to say the least,the injury is abad one not even considering the long layoff.I can't see him getting up there again.
I remember being pretty shocked when those scores were announced, because i had Chagaev winning pretty comfortably. He boxed masterfully, and exposed Valuev for being the one dimensional( good), but average champion that i had known him to be before. He would have a hard time lasting the distance with Wladimir.
Its a shame. With a combination of injury, disease and inactivity things look tough now. It would be something of a miracle of Chagaev got back up to this level, where he would be the third best heavy around I think. And thats only due to size rather than skills, really.
If i remember correct, Chagaev gave the first 3 rounds away by doing very little and taking his time. When he went to work, he scored very well with double left powershots, although some rounds were close. Pretty close fight because of those first three rounds. Considering Valuev improved a lot in his recent rematch with Ruiz and the Liakhovic fight, a rematch between him and Chagaev would be very interesting. I think it'll come off mid-2009.