Maple Leaf
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Skelton's dream date with Chagaev in sight
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ by Ron Lewis
Matt Skelton, the former kickboxer who took up boxing only in his mid-30s, is on the verge of getting a dream shot at the world heavyweight title. Negotiations are close to completion for the Commonwealth champion to face Ruslan Chagaev, of Uzbekistan, who won the WBA title from Nikolay Valuev. The bout will probably take place in Germany, where Chagaev is based, with February or March the likely date.
It will be a big turnaround for Skelton, who will be 41 in January, because he has boxed only once in the past 16 months. That bout was a drab points win over Michael Sprott, of England, at the O2 Arena in July, a contest that, despite his win, seemed to wreck the hopes of Skelton, a former British champion, getting a world-title shot.
He had been nominated to challenge Alexander Dimitrenko, a 6ft 7in Ukrainian, for the vacant European title and had been due to have an eight-round contest on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's bout with Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff three weeks ago. But when the chance of facing Chagaev appeared he was withdrawn from the Cardiff bout to avoid risk of injury.
Chagaev, 29, has been inactive since beating Valuev, the 7ft Russian, on a majority points decision in Stuttgart in April. He had been due to face Sultan Ibragimov, the WBO champion, of Russia, in a title unification bout in Moscow last month but withdrew when it was discovered that he was suffering from hepatitis B, a condition from which he has recovered.
In the present generation of giant heavyweights, Chagaev, at 6ft 1in, seems a midget. When training for his bout with Valuev, his trainer, Michael Timm, would stand on a box to simulate punching upwards. But his lack of stature also makes Chagaev potentially vulnerable to the often ugly, brawling style of the 6ft 3in Skelton.
The unbeaten Chagaev does have an excellent grounding, though. He won the world amateur title at super-heavyweight in 2001 and beat Félix Savón, the great Cuban triple Olympic champion, in the heavyweight final in 1997, although he was stripped of the gold medal and banned for a year when it was discovered that he had boxed in two bouts as a professional in the United States.
It is interesting that only Chagaev is mentioned as short at 6,1 (compared to the Klitschkos or Valuev), while Skelton is only 2 inches taller at 6,3.
Chagaev is one of the top 3 or 4 heavyweights in the world. He has a great amateur pedigree that includes Olympic medals. He has a neck as thick as his thighs, high amperage power in both hands, walks in the ring ready to fight 15 rounds if need be, and fights only to win. He is a formidable opponent even for the Klitschkos.
Matt Skelton has poor boxing skills as he has learned his trade in a haphazard manner. He even has fought in the MMA circuit. He once fought a big hairy white man nicknamed "the cat". The fight lasted a few seconds. "The cat" put Skelton on his back before he could count to five and choked him with one hand around Skelton's neck below his chin the same way bullies choke little guys -except Skelton is not a little guy. Skelton squirmed and tapped and grabbed his throat as if he had just been choked or something.
Skelton's record looks alright at 22-1 except when you read it. The names of his opponents read like a list of who's who of the nobodies. He has fought the human punching bag, Danny Williams, twice and they each have a win. The only reason Skelton is listed anywhere as a top 10 heavyweight is the individuals making the ratings charts want to include a black. The boxing organizations rate a Klutz like Skelton in the top 10 so that the promoters have a black fighter they can match up against a white fighter and it will not look as embarassingly obvious that the black fighter is just a plant.
Chagaev will knock Skelton out in less than 8 rounds. Not much thought needs to go into that prediction.
Edited by: Maple Leaf
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ by Ron Lewis
Matt Skelton, the former kickboxer who took up boxing only in his mid-30s, is on the verge of getting a dream shot at the world heavyweight title. Negotiations are close to completion for the Commonwealth champion to face Ruslan Chagaev, of Uzbekistan, who won the WBA title from Nikolay Valuev. The bout will probably take place in Germany, where Chagaev is based, with February or March the likely date.
It will be a big turnaround for Skelton, who will be 41 in January, because he has boxed only once in the past 16 months. That bout was a drab points win over Michael Sprott, of England, at the O2 Arena in July, a contest that, despite his win, seemed to wreck the hopes of Skelton, a former British champion, getting a world-title shot.
He had been nominated to challenge Alexander Dimitrenko, a 6ft 7in Ukrainian, for the vacant European title and had been due to have an eight-round contest on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's bout with Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff three weeks ago. But when the chance of facing Chagaev appeared he was withdrawn from the Cardiff bout to avoid risk of injury.
Chagaev, 29, has been inactive since beating Valuev, the 7ft Russian, on a majority points decision in Stuttgart in April. He had been due to face Sultan Ibragimov, the WBO champion, of Russia, in a title unification bout in Moscow last month but withdrew when it was discovered that he was suffering from hepatitis B, a condition from which he has recovered.
In the present generation of giant heavyweights, Chagaev, at 6ft 1in, seems a midget. When training for his bout with Valuev, his trainer, Michael Timm, would stand on a box to simulate punching upwards. But his lack of stature also makes Chagaev potentially vulnerable to the often ugly, brawling style of the 6ft 3in Skelton.
The unbeaten Chagaev does have an excellent grounding, though. He won the world amateur title at super-heavyweight in 2001 and beat Félix Savón, the great Cuban triple Olympic champion, in the heavyweight final in 1997, although he was stripped of the gold medal and banned for a year when it was discovered that he had boxed in two bouts as a professional in the United States.
It is interesting that only Chagaev is mentioned as short at 6,1 (compared to the Klitschkos or Valuev), while Skelton is only 2 inches taller at 6,3.
Chagaev is one of the top 3 or 4 heavyweights in the world. He has a great amateur pedigree that includes Olympic medals. He has a neck as thick as his thighs, high amperage power in both hands, walks in the ring ready to fight 15 rounds if need be, and fights only to win. He is a formidable opponent even for the Klitschkos.
Matt Skelton has poor boxing skills as he has learned his trade in a haphazard manner. He even has fought in the MMA circuit. He once fought a big hairy white man nicknamed "the cat". The fight lasted a few seconds. "The cat" put Skelton on his back before he could count to five and choked him with one hand around Skelton's neck below his chin the same way bullies choke little guys -except Skelton is not a little guy. Skelton squirmed and tapped and grabbed his throat as if he had just been choked or something.
Skelton's record looks alright at 22-1 except when you read it. The names of his opponents read like a list of who's who of the nobodies. He has fought the human punching bag, Danny Williams, twice and they each have a win. The only reason Skelton is listed anywhere as a top 10 heavyweight is the individuals making the ratings charts want to include a black. The boxing organizations rate a Klutz like Skelton in the top 10 so that the promoters have a black fighter they can match up against a white fighter and it will not look as embarassingly obvious that the black fighter is just a plant.
Chagaev will knock Skelton out in less than 8 rounds. Not much thought needs to go into that prediction.
Edited by: Maple Leaf
