The book on Ruslan Chagaev

He may be hightly rated but you can only rate whats there.
I think he is moderate, and predict a boring fight similar to the Ibragimov snore.We will see.

 

I really, really wish Ruslan would have done more by now. He's 30 years old, already somewhat shopworn and who's he fought?

Valuev, Virchis and Skelton are all good enough fighters but they're all extremely limited. Some of the most limited fighters in all of boxing actually.

Besides Ruiz, that's everything he has for world class or thereabouts HW competition. The Drumond fight was controversial. Chagaev should of been on the fast track like Povetkin but he's pissed his time away.

 

He has not beat a great fighter ,or even a very good one imo,and I dont think with whats around he will.
Top 5 in any era ? I dont think so.
You can't be called great beating the likes of 42 year old Matt Skelton who was only a domestic level fighter ,in his prime.
"Highly accomplished amateur champion".
So was Audley Harrison
I might have paid for the Wlad Haye fight ,I wouldnt be even arsed to watch this match. NOt Wlad's fault he has taken on the best around ,but the best around stinks imo.
The heavyweight division is in terminal decline, as witnessed by so many old age pensioners still active. Rahman,Ruiz,Maskaev, Holyfield.
Its a shame poor old Max Schmeling died he could probably have got a shot.

 

Top 5 in any decade is a masive call. Is he even in the top 5 of the current decade? Top 5 contender at some stage, in any decade I might agree with.

Still, this is the match which needs to be made, I think it is better than the Haye fight, in terms of top contenders. It seems to be assumed that Vlad wins this fight, but i dont see it as certain as others. Vlad still has some question marks, despite him improving massively in recent fights. Conversely, if Chageav wins this, it really makes him the fighter of the decade (or at least equal with Vitali). Now that would move his legacy up massively. We currently have Vlad and Vitali fans trying to edge them both towards the top 10 or 20 spots. If Russian wins, i think that Vlad drops at least 30 spots from here.

And a couple of other interesting things, if this does happen. In the era of superheavies, it is the smaller 6' fighter who seems to have the best chance of beating the super heavies.

Secondly, Vlads size is not going tot be the be all and end all. Vlad (while probably better than Valuev) will probably use the similar style of keeping russian at bay with the long range jab and clinching when in trouble. It didnt really work for the bigger Valuev, so common sense says it may not work for Vlad either. Certainly, you would expect it not to work to the level of shutout. I think this will be a close contest that Vlad will need to show his heart and character to win.

It might not be the greatest fight ever in terms of in ring action, but i think it is still intriguing in terms of who will win (the real ultimate question in any fight), from building a legacy for either or both fighters it is also exciting in that it will give so much more meaning and excitement to the future fights involving the winner of this bout. I am really hoping to see Chagaev win, because it means that he will almost certainly get a unification fight with Vitali, and from there we would finally have a real world champion.

 

McGrain i agree on the point of his mobility a little i guess, but i agree more so on the point of his judgement of range, from what i saw it was a massive aspect of his gameplan in beating Valuev.

I think he is one of the best heavies in the world no doubt, but can't possible rate him as high as Mendoza does, no disrespect

 

A well considered post .
One advantage Wlad has over Valuev,he has real power to go with his jab,Valuev seems very hard to hurt ,while we know Wlad can be banged out,but Wlad does have the equaliser that the giant lacks.

 

I may be old but I'm not bitter M ,Ive had my champions I grew up in the Ali era so my cup is full.
"Older heavyweights have been doing well since the 90's"
Which heavyweights , over 40 ,apart from Foreman ,were in the ratings during the 90's

The reason so many old heavyweights are still active and comparatively successful is the dearth of really good young heavies,imo.

I hope I'm
completely wrong about this fight I would like it to be a real barnstormer ,with Wlad showing his tenacity and will to win sparking Chagaev out after several hard fought rounds ,but I fear the worst .
If I'm wrong I will cheerfully say so after the fight.

 

I think he's pretty damn good, way better than Ibragamov. Uses range, distance and mobility very well. Has good pop in his punches. Great beard. He could rank top-5 in just about any era. But then again I think the 70's are incredibly overrated by yanks and the two thousand-oughts incredibly under-rated because they don't have a dog in the race. Chag's biggest problem, as with most ought decade heavies is the lack of great matchmaking. He seems just to be on some Euro-exhibition circuit. Great matchmaking makes great fighters, always has, always will.... unless you thought watching Tyson blow out Dave Jaco or Joe Louis wasting Paycheck was great.