Ruslan Chagaev vs. Matt Skelton

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Challenger rankings
Org. Pos. As of Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA NR 23.10.2007 23.10.2007
WBC 23 30.09.2007 27.09-11.10.2007
IBF NR 16.10.2007 11-17.10.2007
WBO 6 01.10.2007 11-12.10.2007
Ring NR 22.10.2007 21-28.10.2007
2+ Mth. Old
WBA N/A N/A N/A
WBC N/A N/A N/A
IBF N/A N/A N/A
WBO N/A N/A N/A
Ring N/A N/A N/A
3+ Mth. Old
WBA N/A N/A N/A
WBC N/A N/A N/A
IBF N/A N/A N/A
WBO N/A N/A N/A
Ring N/A N/A N/A

Ruslan Chagaev 229 lbs beat Matt Skelton 255 lbs by UD in round 12 of 12


Notes

  • Announced on December 5.[1][2]
  • Skelton unranked by the WBA in the September rankings (published on October 23), entered Top 15 in the October rankings (published on November 29), taking the No.15 spot from Evander Holyfield.
  • Skelton was deducted a point in round eight because of repeated holding and hitting.
  • The bout generated 4.42 million average viewers on ZDF.

Chagaev Trapped In A Hug. Uzbek Boxer's Voluntary Defense Against Skelton Looked Rather Like Wrestling Match

by Sovetskyi Sport, January 20, 2008

By comfortably beating Skelton on points in Dusseldorf in a fight that looked rather like sumo than boxing, Uzbek boxer Ruslan Chagaev successfully defended his WBA world heavyweight title.

Looks like Chagaev was being sincere when he said he couldn't wait to fight Skelton. You could tell that nine long months out of the ring, as well as accusations of cowardice after pulling out of the Ibragimov fight, got to him.

That the boxer was truly eager to fight became clear from the moment Ruslan appeared in the ring at the Düsseldorf Burg-Wächter-Castello: you could see how he was impatiently fidgeting, barely holding himself back from charging into the fight straight away.

Before both fighters entered into their first clinch (and oh boy there would be many of those), let's rewind a few days. To relieve Chagaev's mental strain, his coach Michael Timm, known for his love of all sorts of know-how, took Ruslan to a training session with the Schalke football team a few days before the fight. Ruslan and his coach gave players a good run around the gym, after which the boxer challenged some willing brave souls to a sparring session.

There were plenty of volunteers. And Gerald Asamoah even made Ruslan break a sweat, launching a furious attack on him accompanied by his teammates' laughter.

Before the fight, footage of this "fight" was shown on large monitors suspended above the ring. Seemed like it paid dividends - as the bell rang, Matt Skelton charged into an equally vigorous attack without any feeling-out process. It looked as if the fight wasn't going last 12 rounds, but three or four at most. But Chagaev was prepared for this turn of events - he quickly cooled off Skelton's aggression with counterattacks.

Boxing? Sumo?

Quickly, but for a short period of time - the second round followed the same pattern, and the third, too. Though it was noticeable that Skelton was openly holding on to Chagaev increasingly more often, trying to avoid his infrequent but powerful punches. The ref was working as hard as he could trying to pull them out of the clinch. The judges didn't have it easy either - trying to determine who was better during the almost even opening rounds was not easy. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Chagaev was ahead - though not by a wide margin.

Everything fell into place in the fourth round. Unlike the first three, Skelton didn't start it on the offensive. Didn't have time to recover? It seems so. He was holding on to Chagaev very blatantly, and his initially formidable punches were clearly losing their explosiveness and power.

I was surprised myself, - Ruslan told me after the fight, - He pokes me in the body as if gently stroking, where did everything go!

But that would come later, and for now, while Skelton's punch may have been fading, his tenacity and desire to end the fight at any cost was still in full force.

"At any cost" isn't said lightly here: the fight was increasingly less resembling boxing and more and more wrestling. Greco-Roman, and sometimes even sumo. The Englishman, taking advantage of his 10cm height and 11kg weight advantage, increasingly and openly held Ruslan on the ropes and tried to keep him there for as long as possible.

Skelton didn't always succeed. In the fourth round, Chagaev's signature left hooks started landing, and the Englishman was staggered.

And in the fifth, everything became definitively clear: a few successful combinations finished with a left, and not only Skelton's nose was shattered but so was the slightest hope of success.

By Points, But With Zero Questions

It seemed like Chagaev just needed to step it up, and the knockout is unavoidable. But Ruslan for some reason kept going inside - into wrestling hugs. Or Skelton, taking advantage of his opponent's caution (there they are, nine months out of the ring!) successfully tied him up, pinned down his arms, legs or you try to figure out what!

"Figuring out" (about time, really!) did the ref - desperately trying to force Skelton to fight, he gave him an official warning in the eighth. Minus one point. It did little for Chagaev, he's comfortably ahead anyway, you could credit the Englishman with maybe three even rounds at best.

Which is how it turned out in the end. By all means, legal and illegal, Skelton made it to the final round. But it did little for him - all three judges unanimously gave the nod to the Uzbek boxer: 117-111, 117-110, 117-111.


Preceded by:
Valuev vs. Chagaev 		WBA Heavyweight Title Fight
# 86 		Succeeded by:
Valuev vs. Ruiz II


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