Does anyone question the validity of Chagaev pulling out so far from the fight date?

That is just great, christ. Chagaev better have a good reason! Chagaev is going to get Holyfield killled. It will be his fault!

 

I agree with you 100% Heavyrighthand. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark...or Moscow, really, I suppose.

 

Probably a pay off to get Holyfield in position.

 

I hadnt really thought about it but you are right it is a long way off and no one has even mentioned this until now. Holyfield was in there before we even knew the other fight was cancelled. What could be so bad they couldnt even postpone the unification? it would have to be something like shoulder surgery on a rotator cuff, anything else he should have been able to fight even if at a later date.

 

If this "stomach ailment" is anything short of cancer, then it is just a $ play by Holy, Chag and the WBO.

 

Smells like bull**** to me. :verysad

Unification sound nice 'n all but Holyfield brings the money & somehow, somewhere, somebody got paid off. Ruslan's replacement being announced as Holyfield being done so quickly also reeks of avoiding a second unification option against Wlad Klitschko. Also, very sad. :verysad

Regardless, seems like a decent matchup & hopefully whoever wins tries to unify immediately following this ****-show. :barf

 

Can you say payoff?

 

Think it's a bit of a "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" kinda favour? Someone's pulled a few strings?

Holyfield's leapfrogged a lot of guys ahead of him in the WBO rankings to be awarded this shot, without beating anyone in their top 15...

 

This more than likely has to do with the fact of public intrest, nobody was blowing up the boards about this fight so more than likely it would have been a huge Flop in terms of money.
Put Holyfield in there and look at the forums, its a bigger fight and people tune in, that is the nature of the sport, put asses in the seats and sell PPV hook ups.

 

When he fought Oquendo, Fres at that time was ranked #13

 

Stomach ailment? Sounds fishy indeed!

Who knows? He may have received an offer to face Wlad,or an financially attractive offer to fight Valuev in a rematch.

Damn! I would have bet my money on Chagaev against the slightly overrated Sultan Ibragimov.

 

You make it sound like he's set to go to a birthday party and can "wait" to see if the illness isn't as serious as they probably think then they'll cancel. He's set to fight in a championship boxing FIGHT and can get killed in there if he isn't above 100%.

 

But it's about 2 and a half months off. They can't afford even a few extra days at this point in time? It's not like it's due in a fortnight or something.
I appreciate needing to be 100% but this is quite a way out...

I would be interested in hearing from Chagaev about all this.

 

Well, a pay off might be what happened.
Holyfield's camp bought Chagaev to step aside.

Then again, nobody really knows.
Chagaev might be actually seriously sick, or he might have developed alcoholism or a heroin addiction, or he just found God , or just found out he's a woman trapped in a man's body.

There's a load of reasons that might cause a guy to pull out of a fight.