BoxRec

12 rounds,who wins?

Quite evenly matched. Both could box and punch. Chagaev seemed to be tougher and more tricky, I can see him edging a dec.

In that very dull period of time following the reign of Lennox Lewis there was such a big influx of fighters from the former Soviet Union that the heavyweight division kind of fell off the radar because people couldn't pronounce the names of most of these people but I was a fan of both men. Chagaev was certainly the better of the two, but Maskaev had a pretty brutal overhand right and could never be counted out.

Those fights he had with Hasim Rahman were pretty fun contests in a relatively boring era. He was a pretty tough man, going 11 rounds with a prime David Tua, and he defeated quite a few good names--- but whenever he started to get a little bit ahead he would end up losing to guys like Corey Sanders, Kirk Johnson and Lance Whitaker. So he certainly wasn't consistent.

Chagaev at one point was maybe the second best heavyweight in the world. In his prime he only lost to Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin--- although one can make the argument that those fights came a bit later than they should have. He really was at his best in 2006-2007, while those losses came in 2009 and 2011.

Prime for prime, head to head, both bringing their A+ game, it would have been one hell of a heavyweight brawl but I think Chagaev has the higher work rate and wins the decision.

Chagaev on a decision- he was the better boxer.