Ruslan Chagaev vs the 1950s

Sonny Liston - KO'd early
Rocky Marciano - KO'd mid late
Jersey Joe Walcott - Schooled
Ezzard Charles - Schooled and maybe kos him
Floyd Patterson - Schools him
Ingemar Johansson - see the right hand finding a home
Joe Louis - Old Louis wins, maybe only a UD though
Archie Moore - Moore schools him, maybe takes him out late on
Harold Johnson - not seen enough of him
Cleveland Williams - hard to judge Williams, but he has speed, power over Chagaev
Zora Folley - havent seen enough, he seems a better boxer
Eddie Machen - not seen enough of him
Clarence Henry - not seen enough
Bob Baker - not seen enough
Nino Valdes - not seen enough
Roland Lastarza - not seen much but leaning towards Lastarza
Rex Layne - - not seen enough

 

I suppose he would win a couple ,but I would make that 17 guys all favourite to beat him myself.
Being charitable Baker and Henry were pretty inconsistant,so I give Chageav those 2.Equally he could be bombed out by either or both,imo.
He is a big fish in a very tiny pond ,undefeated against what are basically journeyman imo.

 

The southpaw style wasn't common in the heavyweight division until recently. I'm sure that alone could give many of the men listed a lot of trouble.

The Chagaev of 2009 however seems to have declined from the form he showed back in 2006-2007. Carl Davis Drumond had a case of winning when they fought and Drumond is pretty terrible.

 

He's gonna get slaughtered.

Being a southpaw is not an advantage against Klitschko.

 

Oh, who said that Suzie?

 

:huh

 

Klitschko obviously knows how to fight southpaws.

And being as limited a southpaw as Chagaev is not going to give him an advantage.

Is being a southpaw an advantage against Hopkins?

It's not always an advantage.

 

Well he lost badly to a south paw named Corrie Sanders, and was decked on a multitude of occasions by left hooks. As for Chagaev being limited, I'm not sure that I agree with the claim. He may not be a terribly hard punching fighter, nor the greatest boxer of all time, but he's definately quick, fairly skilled, and possesing a solid chin. All of the above could make for a tough fight. Now, Ruslan hasn't fought much within the last two years, and being 30 years old, may very well be past his best. But sticking to the point, I do not agree with your claims that:

A. Being a southpaw is not an advantage against Wlad

B. Chagaev is limited.

The problem that I have with these comments, is that they are blanket statements in nature.

 

Hope this clears it up:

1) Chagaev has an amateur style based around his 1-2. Generally, this is not a bad thing, especially if a fighter has a more diversified offense, but considering Chagaev lacks the speed to put together fluid combinations against upper level opposition, (for the heavyweights basically just Wlad, Haye and Vitali, although Chag was having trouble doing this against Valuev who is neither upper level nor fast), this will be determintal against Klitschko who has height, reach, and athleticism advantages over Chagaev and also uses the 1-2 as his main offensive weapons.

2) Chagaev is a southpaw who likes to use an in and out, high guard attack, but does not look particularly fast with his foot movement and looks to be just average with his hand speed, but either way slower than Klitschko in both categories, despite being the smaller man. Since Chagaev's main offensive weapon is his left straight, and with his stance it's the farthest hand from Klitschko, he will be in a world of hurt when he finds out how hard it is to connect on Klitschko with his straight left, just as Ibriganov came to find out.

3) Chagaev lacks power and speed. Against Valuev who is incredibly slow, Chagaev didn't appear much faster, and against many opponents his power seemed questionable at best, but certainly not in the league of Peter, Haye, Vitali or Wlad. Maybe slightly higher than a guy like Povetkin, but less than that of Ibriganov. His footwork is also not fast enough to allow him to shoot in with his 1-2 and avoid getting hit.

4) Chagaev doesn’t have the defense to cope with Klitschko. While Chagaev’s defense is better than 95% of the heavyweight division, that isn’t saying much. He does move his head, and he does hold his hands high, and can sometimes be an elusive target, but he has faced limited opposition who did not have the talent or the fortitude to offer any serious threat to Chagaev, yet against recent opposition, Chagaev has not appeared to be much of a world beater either. Still though, he won’t be able to avoid the more athletic and faster Klitschko and Chagaev doesn’t have the defensive ability or style as the Jeff Mayweather trained Ibriganov.

5) He has been injured often, hasn’t looked good in his last few fights, and may very well be on the decline. Chagaev may very well come into the fight in the best shape of his life, although it won’t be enough, but it’s doubtful considering his layoffs and the fact that he isn’t getting any younger.

So basically if you put all these factors together, Klitschko will bide his time as Chagaev finds out right away how hard it is to hit Klitschko especially with his limited offense, as Klitschko jabs away and occasionally lands right hands. Chagaev will then have to respond desperately as he does not have the defense of Ibriganov, but his attack will be futile as he doesn’t have offensive versatility to frequently land on Klitschko nor the power to capitalize when he does. This fight actually has the makings of spectacular KO as the severely overmatched Chagaev will have nowhere to run and will eventually, inevitably be brutalized by Klitschko.

This is a set up fight to make Klitschko look good against an opponent who has no chance. Hopefully Haye will fight an opponent, perhaps one with a chance, and brutalize him as well to set up a super fight in the NEAR future. But fans rooting for Chagaev, don’t get your hopes up as your man has no chance.

 

Let's see the 50's had Marciano, who needed everything he had to beat past their prime versions of Charles and Wlaoctt, and Liston, who was a force, yet somehow lost to the likes of Marty Marshall and took several other solid journeyman types the distance. For arguments sake, I will give you Marciano and Liston because I believe it.

Chalres was not a very good fighter in the 50's as a whole. He lost 20 times in the 50's, and was KO'd multiple times.:deal

Walcott who lost 17 more times than Chagaev did in his career, and really did not hang along in the 1950's for long to rate highly in the 50s.:deal

Chagaev is not un-proven. He beat Felix Savon 2x, and IMO Savon was far more dangerous than the chinny, averaged power Charles, or the erratic and chinny Walcott.:deal

As for the other guys:

Floyd Patterson - Lost too many times. Floored too often. Could not take punch. Chagaev would TKO him. Patterson was not a master boxer either. A good jabber in Maxim likely defeated him.

Ingemar Johansson - Limited one punch guy. Chinny. Small. Not very swift footed or defensive either. Ingo could hit, but Chagaev could take a punch, and punch pretty hard too. I'll take Chagaev here.

Joe Louis - Way too old in the 50's, lost his punch and skill in the 50's. Chagaev wins on points over the old Joe Louis.

Archie Moore - Good, but not great heavy. Lost to the best in the 50's. DOA vs Patterson, and beaten down by Marciano. Which top heavy did Moore beat in the 50's again? I go with Chagaev via close decision over the great light heavyweight, but would give Moore a chance to win on points.

Harold Johnson - Too passive and defensive oriented. Johnson needed the other guy to make mistakes to shine. Chagaev makes few of them. Chagaev via boring UD.

Cleveland Williams - Chinny power hitter with a thin resume. Chagaev has a rock for a chin, and can hit himself, so the best conclusion here is Chagaev via TKO.

Zora Folley - Small, and did nothing special. Might go the distance. Not likely to win.

Eddie Machen - Solid skills, not much power. Unlike Harold Johnson Machen did go on offense from time to time. Close match up, but I'll side with Chagaev who would land the harder shots.

Clarence Henry - Erratic. Faded quickly in the 50's.

Bob Baker - Big for his era, but not really a top fighter.

Nino Valdes - Lost too many times. Insert your excuses as to why.

Roland Lastarza - Could not stand up to power hitters. Chagaev would go right through him.

Rex Layne - Lost too many times. Limited on film. Chagaev has better skills, better chin, and hits just as hard.

Of the above group, I'd make Chagaev a favorite in nearly every fight. I would nto say he runs the table. he'd lose a few, because that is the way boxing works.

Regarding the list of fighters here I beleive Chagaev hit harder then most ( can he have those light 50's gloves too ), had the best chin on the list, had among the fasted hands, never lost to journeyman liek many of the above fighter did, and in general more skills then the above fighters. Chagaev would have a weight advantage on them too, and an advantage of the southpaw style.

 

Well you are certainly very high on Chagaev.
As far as I'm concerned he hasnt beaten anyone of any real ability yet and at 30 I can't see him improving .