Who wins? I have Sultan by UD. His superior handspeed will be the key, consistantly beating Chagaev to the punch. And he won't be at a size disadvantage, either..as Chagaev and him seem to be the same size.
Ruslan Chagaev is no Ray Austin or Shannon Briggs. Chagaev by stoppage.Sultan is totally overrated IMO.
These fighters seem similar in so many ways. Close in size. Comparable styles. Neither really commit to the jab and lead with power shots. Both lack huge power but are pretty slick and good movers. Iggy appears to have the quicker mits but I am a little more impressed by Chagaev's consistent left and intelligence. He put together a truly intelligent gameplan against Valuev. Should be an exciting fight. Chagaev by MD.
I had Valuev winning that fight, so I'll go with Ibragimov, although it's a close call. Another good consequence of this (considering that the WBC is tied up for two fights, and so may be the IBF if Wlad agrees to fight the WBA-WBO winner) may be that the top contenders will have to face off against each other, to give some idea of who will be worthy to face the unified champion in the end. We could end up with fighters like Valuev, Lyakhovich, all the older guys (Morrison, McCall, Holyfield, etc) and the young ones (Povetkin, Greenberg, etc) fighting each other instead of outsiders. Genuine top ten match-ups should produce a consensus challenger to a consensus champion, and hopefully Ray Austin won't be involved!
close one to call. it's an exciting fight and i hope they bring excitement to the table. this will be a huge fight in europe!!!!!!! kudos to both fighters
Holy crap, I thought I was the only one. I had Valuev 7-5, but I digress. I think Chagaev's counterpunching ability wins this fight. He will catch the agreesive Iggy with some big shots when he's trying to get inside. Ruslan by late TKO.
Oh i think he has solid power just not huge power like a wald. against his best opposition, he stunned both ruiz and valuev but never really had them badly hurt. his left is pretty sharp and heavy though, but im most impressed with his ring intelligence. i do think he has the power edge against Iggy which will ultimately help him win this fight.
I'd have to go with Chagaev. Sultan has shown more vulnerabilities, and I wouldn't be surprised if Ruslan stops him late. This also raises an interesting question - who will be the #1 HW after this unification takes place, the winner of this fight or Wlad?