Now I know this fight has been subject to much derision, from myself included, but lets try to put that to one side for a second. What do people think will happen in this fight? I must confess I have seen very little of Chagaev but I have, however, seen a lot of Skelton. Nearly all his fights infact. He's not pretty to watch & I have always maintained that anyone with a bit of class would beat him easily. His only loss came to Danny Williams (a loss he avenged) & Williams had a lot of success with the uppercut that night. So how do people see this one going? Lets not forget the bigger picture, we all want heavyweight unification so when we consider one of these two men could be a future opponent for Wladimir Klitschko it holds more signifcance than it may been given. Dan.
Chagaev has way too much skill for Skelton. My guess that this will be a very wide UD, with Skelton not winning more than two rounds.
Chagaev wins every round, but does not get the knockout. Skeleton has a good chin, Chag can pop a little, but much like Sultan, seems content to box his way to a victory when he can. So I see Chag outclassing him with his southpaw style and high volume of punches thrown. Big Cat says that Chag has a sweet spot on his chin, but it has held up well so far against a couple of good punchers (Virhcis!) and Skeleton hasn't got the power anyway. For what it is worth, I don't think this is such a ridiculous fight for a voluntary defense. Unification with Sultan would have been better, but Skeleton, limited and just plain old as he is, shows up to fight. Its another notch in Chag's belt.
Interesting to know, although Chag does not seem to fight tentatively and seems to have very competent defence.
people are thinking this is going to be way easier than i beleive it will be for chagaev. if chagaev ko`s skelton with straight shot down the pipe as skelton walks in and does not see it coming all well and good , and definatley could happen. but ruiz gave chagaev a close fight simply because in the middle rounds chagaev went to sleep after easily outboxing ruiz at the beggining and let ruiz back into the fight. skelton does have a high workrate/fights something like ruiz and has great stamina. chagaev stepped back on the gas in the last 2 rounds to win the fight, but he does go to sleep sometimes in fights and skelton has a small chance of outhustling chagaev if he can take his power. wont outbox chagaev though, it will have to be brute force as normal.
Cachibatches echoes my thoughts on this, I reckon Skelton will make it to the final bell and give a hard-working effort, but Chagaev will be too skillful. Skelton's best chance is to try to drag it into a brawl, make Chagaev go toe-to-toe. He hasn't got the kind of style that judges tend to favour as it is, so a stoppage win is a must.
Chagaev is mobile and two-handed. Skelton's worst nightmare? Mobile and two-handed. I reckon Skelton gets stopped, rescued by the ref or his corner. Of course, Chagaev might fight with a reticent fight plan (and given that Skelton is known for overwhelming the opposition, wouldn't be that surprised) so a points victory is possible to.
