Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev question...

I would add that I expect Wlad to be closer to his optimum on fight night than Chagaev.

 

underneath is a post that i made a while ago. this is based on title claims which started from the date of Lennox Lewis' retirement. As you can see, Vlad and Chageav are the fighters with the largest claims to existing titles, and it is actually amazing how man lineage claims they have. Eventually, all lines will lead to one person, imo. Based on the sheer numbers of titles and general circumstances, i think that the winner of Vlad-Chageav will have a right to acceptance of the title of the World Heavyweight
Champion.

By the way, in double checking a few things to make sure that lineage hasnt changed as any of these titles, it looks as though i have made an error with regards to the lineage of the Nigerian title. This appears to be held by Russian Chageav and not Fimpong. So that should really add to the prestige and claim of the Chageav - Klitchsko winners Claims!

 

I concur,

Chagaev is facing by far and above, the best opponent of his 12 year career. No one else he's faced even comes close. What's more, he's arguably coming off the worst slump of his career. As you say, he has looked ordinary against mediocre comp, and I'll ad to it by pointing out that most of wins over the last 3 years have resulted in split or majority decisions.. I like Ruslan Chagaev, and would hate to see him lose his "0", but I'm afraid he is out of his league, and taking this fight on such short notice is going to benefit Wlad more so than him...

 

Why not? Moore vs Patterson was a comparable fight, except that Moore had just lost to the previous champion ("so he can't be the possible new linear"), and Patterson wasn't half as established as Wlad is right now.

Quarry vs Ellis, same story. Burns vs some guy, same story. These are two undefeated beltholders who have both been in the top5 for several years now. The winner has every right to be called the linear champion.

 

Like Suzie says, I suppose it is a positive step for the division,though I was rather looking forward to the Haye fight .A glance at Chagaev's record emphasises the dearth of quality heavyweights, Skelton is 42 ,Ruiz is on a perrenial comeback and Valuev has no power,I wont be paying for this one and expect a dreary fight,with Wlad the winner.

 

I have no problem with this being for both the Ring and Linear crowns.

Even if the last couple years have been very rough for Chagaev he is still undefeated, in my eyes the true holder of the WBA belt, and Ring's #3 which would fit in with the #1vs#2 or #1vs#3 rule they've had in effect for a while now. Chagaev is certainly a more deserving #3 to me than Sanders was in 2004.

Wlad deserves it for the way he's rebounded from the Brewster loss and faced pretty much the best comp of any of the other champions/contenders at the moment. You can argue about the quality but I don't think you can really argue about it in terms of what others have been doing.

Vitali would be the proverbial fly in the ointment, except he's Wlad's brother and it makes for an unusual situation. What would normally be a massive (and given their qualities, a very good) fight in the making is more of a pipe dream. Even on the tiny chance they would ever fight I'd expect a Byrd-Williamson style affair with neither wishing to inflict serious harm on the other.

I still wish we could have The Man though, not The Men.

I also agree that Wlad-Chagaev isn't going to be much of a fight. I'll be happy to be wrong but Chagaev has not looked good since the Valuev fight. All-round you could rate him better than Haye but he lack's both Haye's power and explosiveness, which were basically the only two things that were giving Haye the chance to win. I don't think Chagaev's good technique and combinations are going to be enough.

 

this scenario is so ridiculous. i want wlad to get his ass handed to him by chagaev for the sheer fact of watching this guy lose. if wlad wins then heaven forbid the brothers fight. these two guys picked the same profession and believe me i would love to see them fight. i accept and respect that they never will BUT one of these two need to step aside and stop holding the 1 and 2 spots hostage. they have created an extremly weird scenario.its kinda like if you pick on my brother im gonna get you.

 

i want wlad to get his ass handed to him by chagaev for the sheer fact of watching this guy lose. if wlad wins then heaven forbid the brothers fight. these two guys picked the same profession and believe me i would love to see them fight. i accept and respect that they never will BUT one of these two need to swtep aside and stop holding the 1 and 2 spots hostage. they have created an extremly weird scenario.its kinda like if you pick on my brother im gonna get you.this scenario is so ridiculous.

 

Age and youth are not issues for Chagaev. With him its injury or illness. Chagaev is a hard worker. Turing back the clock for Chagaev means staying in the gym, which he has for this fight. If Chagaev wasn't healthy or in form, he would not take this fight.

While Chagaev didn't look great vs Skelton, Skelton was a tough nut to crack. In fact Valuev and Ruiz are hard guys to stop too.

I think Chagaev is the clear cut #3 guy right now, and would be a top 5 heavyy in just about every era. In fact, I think Chagaev is better than a few X lineal champions and has done enough to be viewed as a top 100 all time heavyweight, but that is a separate thread.

If Wlad scores a solid win over Chagaev, the Klitschko's will put some serious distance between them and the field.

 

Chagaev fought this year. Inactivity in boxing is best described as length of time in-between fights. Chagaev has been in the gym training hard for the fight of his life vs Valuev. While Valuev isn't the best heavyweight in the world, he is for certain a top ten guy. In addition, Chagaev trained to fight a tall opponent. Wlad has the harder adjustment to make as he was training to fight a quick handed, rangier guy, not a stocky south paw.

In closing I believe since Chagaev has fought recently, and has trained hard to meet Valuev he will be in shape. the ring rust will be a non-issue. I would not call Chagaev in-active for the above two reasons. A good weight for Chageav is about 227 pounds.

I think we have to look at styles, the circumstances of the late rounds, and he other guy gain or lose. Chagaev is not going to risk a late round loss to put his guy away. He took the win.

Rogan is a gun slinger type. He had a lot to prove, and was down ( I think ) on the cards before landing the bomb. In addition, Skelton was old for both fights, and sometimes older fighter who were just thought a tough fight as Skelton was vs Chagaev age quickly in the ring before our eyes in their next outing. If Chagaev was down on points vs Skelton, and had Skelton hurt, he would have pressed for the late round stoppage win.