Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ruslan Chagaev

Challenger rankings

Org.	Pos.	As of	Published
1+ 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	3	29.03.2009	by 05.04.2009
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	3	29.03.2009	by 05.04.2009
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	3	22.02.2009	by 27.02.2009

Wladimir Klitschko 240 lbs beat Ruslan Chagaev 225 lbs by RTD at 3:00 in round 9 of 12

• Date: 2009-06-20
• Location: Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
• Referee: Eddie Cotton
• Judge: Manfred Kuechler 88-82
• Judge: Don Trella 90-79
• Judge: Noel Monnet 89-81

• Announcer: Michael Buffer
• Aired on: RTL Television (Germany), Inter (Ukraine), ESPN Classic (USA) (Main Event)
• Weights: Klitschko 109 kg, Chagaev 102 kg
• International Boxing Federation Heavyweight Title (7th defense by Klitschko)
• World Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (3rd defense by Klitschko)
• International Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (7th defense by Klitschko)
• The Ring Magazine Heavyweight Title (Vacant title)

Notes

• Klitschko was the IBF, IBO, and WBO heavyweight champion, and Chagaev was the WBA heavyweight Champion in Recess.
• Chagaev won the WBA heavyweight title from Nikolay Valuev in 2007. He was scheduled to defend the title in a rematch with Valeuv in Germany in 2008, but Chagaev pulled out of the fight twice. He withdrew the first time because of a viral infection and withdrew the second time because of a torn Achilles tendon. Chagaev was then named "champion in recess," and Valuev defeated John Ruiz to win the vacant WBA heavyweight title. Chagaev and Valuev were scheduled to fight in Finland on May 30, 2009, but the bout was cancelled after Hepatitis-B antigens were found in Chagaev's blood. [1]
• Klitschko was scheduled to face David Haye in Germany on June 20, 2009, but on June 3 it was announced that Haye withdrew because of a back injury.[2] Haye asked Klitschko to delay their fight until July 11, insisting that he would be okay to fight with a brief delay, but Klitschko declined.Klitschko then reached out to Chagaev, who accepted the fight. The fight took place in Germany, where the rules were different than in Finland, and Chagaev's hepatitis levels were acceptable. Klitschko said he was immunized against Hepatitis B and was not worried about being infected. [3]
• Contracts signed somewhere between June 5 and June 14.[4] [5]
• Cheapest tickets cost €24 ($33); cheapest seats cost €39 ($54).[6]
• 30,000 tickets were reportedly sold on the first day of sales on April 18[7]; that number increased to 47,000 by April 22.[8]
• Approximately 57,000 tickets that were sold for Klitschko vs. Haye remained valid for Klitschko vs. Chagaev.[9]
• Klitschko vs. Haye was going to be televised by HBO in the United States, but the network wasn't interested in Chagaev as an opponent, so Klitschko vs. Chagaev was picked up by ESPN Classic.
• Overall, the bout was televised in 114 countries.[10]
• Klitschko and Chagaev fought for the vacant Ring Magazine heavyweight title. Klitschko was ranked as the No. 1 contender and Chagaev was ranked No. 3. WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir's older brother, was ranked No. 2.
• Chagaev was a 5 to 1 underdog.
• Chagaev weighed in at 224 3/4 lbs., the lightest since 2004.
• There was a sellout crowd of 61,000, the biggest boxing audience in Germany since Max Schmeling knocked out Adolf Heuser in front of 70,000 people in Stuttgart in 1939.[11][12][13]
• The fight drew 10.34 million viewers with 50.2 share (and peaked at 11.16 million[14]) on RTL Television. It was the 6th-most watched television broadcast of 2009 in Germany.[15]
• Klitschko dominated the fight. One judge gave Klitschko every round, and the other two judges gave Chagaev only the sixth round. Klitschko knocked Chagaev down in the second round and opened a cut over his left eye in the eighth. The fight was stopped after the ninth round. [16]

Wladimir Klitschko Imperious In Beating Ruslan Chagaev Despite Critics Barbs

By Gareth A. Davies, The Telegraph, June 21, 2009

Wladimir Klitschko will be criticised again after this dominating performance over Ruslan Chagaev. Wrongly, that is.

Watched by 61,000 live at Schalke 04's Veltins Stadium, and a German television audience of 10 million, a 50 per cent market share, Klitschko was imperious. He did everything right. All bar knocking Chagaev out.

Over nine rounds, Klitschko boxed the former world amateur champion, an undefeated fighter who really is no mug, and can be a clever ring exponent to boot, to a complete standstill. Who cares if it was boring? Sport is about winning. Why should Klitschko diminish his powers by boxing wildly? He just knows how to box clever.

Under Emanuel Steward, he practises the art of boxing. Hit and don't be hit. In many ways, Lennox Lewis did similar, though when he could see the finish, he went in for the kill. Klitschko still has the tendency to hold back, even when the finish is on.

Don't let anyone tell you that Chagaev was not game, either. Most of them will have been watching it from an armchair, on television. Chagaev tried his utmost to bob and weave all night, indeed his movement from the waist was continuous, and yet Klitschko finished Chagaev with a clinical performance.

That he did it with heavy jab, jab, jab, and left right combinations, matters not. He did not hook, or uppercut, and clearly does not want to be hit, but he is almost at the peak of his powers, and knows he is happy to use his physical skills. Why should he risk his game plan when it is so effective?

The Ukrainian proved just why he rightly deserves the mantle of the world's No 1 heavyweight. Klitschko was never in trouble, simply because Chagaev could not get near enough, and by the end of the ninth round, the Uzbeki had shipped so much punishment, his trainer Michael Timm, after speaking to referee Eddie Cotton, decided that enough was enough.

Chagaev bobbed and weaved all night, and no one could accused him of not being an instinctive, brave WBA 'champion in recess'. Chagaev gave his all, but it was simply not enough. I gave Chagaev the seventh round, nothing more. He was put on his backside in the second round with a hard left, and straight right, but was peppered by the ramrod jab of Klitschko round after round, until, in the ninth, the challenger to the IBO, IBF and WBO titles was bleeding from above the left eye, and his face was a red mess.

Klitschko is not a German, but he is certainly an adopted son of that country in the way he was treated. He thanked the fans for coming after the contest, and on this showing, and in this form, perhaps David Haye, the London heavyweight originally scheduled to face him here, but who had to withdraw due to a back injury, may have looked on nodding in approval. Klitschko's performance was nigh-on perfect.

Speaking from inside the ring immediately after the fight, Klitschko was still annoyed with Haye. "I am very upset about David Haye, he has a big, bad and dirty mouth, I cannot rely on this man, he is immature as a fighter and immature as a person. I missed a fight in April to accommodate him, he couldn't deliver Chelsea [Stamford Bridge football ground], so we moved the fight here."

"There is no blame on him physically, a fighter's health is important and boxers get injured. But he kept telling journalists that he needed two more weeks to recover, then he needed three, four weeks, I just kept hearing he needed more and more time. If he wants to fight me now, no problem, get in line, I will knock him out in the 12th."[17]

Klitschko Defeated Chagaev And Successfully Defended His World Titles

By Champion, June 21, 2009

IBF, IBO and WBO world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3-0, 47 KO) defended his titles against the WBA world champion Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev (25-1-1, 17 KO).

The Ukrainian won by technical knockout in the 9th round. After many absorbed punches in this round, the team of the younger Klitschko's opponent decided not to allow their boxer to come out for the 10th round. By this time, Chagaev had already been knocked down in the second segment after the Ukrainian's straight right.

Thus, Wladimir Klitschko defended his titles and won The Ring magazine world championship. Ruslan Chagaev's WBA title was not on the line.

The battle of "Steel Hammer" against "White Tyson" ended with a convincing victory of the former. So convincing that, perhaps, we would like more intrigue. The WBA world champion was unable to implement what would give him a chance to win - make the pace of the fight broken and inconsistent, often and unexpectedly close the distance and try to get Klitschko with uppercuts and hooks.

Yes, Chagaev did not look like a punching bag like Sultan Ibragimov, similar to him in terms of size and southpaw stance, but he did not manage to break the Ukrainian's defense and comfortable distance.

Wladimir Klitschko smoothly executed the game plan developed by his team. Without inventing a bicycle, our boxer used all his natural and technical trump cards - advantage in height and arm length, a masterful jab and devastating straight shots from both hands. To achieve the triumph, the younger Klitschko did not even have to unleash hooks, which Wladimir used only once (left hook) throughout the entire fight when the opponent was retreating.

The boxers fought as expected. Volodya began to work carefully and from a long distance. Chagaev immediately went forward, but our compatriot had no problem avoiding the Uzbek's attacks with simple retreats. The Ukrainian, as is tradition, was answering the opponent with his straight left and increased the usage of the right hand with each round. Yes, Klitschko's first real attack in the fight with the right hand ended with Chagaev being unexpectedly knocked down in the second round.

Starting from the fifth segment of the fight, Chagaev's position became more and more difficult - after several absorbed one-twos, the Ukrainian's opponent began to decrease his dodging and ducking, and therefore ended up more and more often standing still and receiving blows.

In the seventh round, after another straight right from Klitschko, Chagaev's left eyebrow started bleeding. In the same round, the Uzbek had his only chance, not even a chance, but a half-chance. Wladimir "remembered" his old illness which used to appear during the rapid shortening of the distance by the opponent, and somewhat uncertainly moved to the ropes, leaning on them. The Uzbek's only clean blow to the head also came in this round - Chagaev caught Klitschko with a left hook after the bell, when our boxer was not ready for it.

From the eighth, Klitschko turned his legs on - he upped his work when moving to the right or left, apparently not wanting to repeat the experience of the "after-the-bell" punch. And the ninth round put all dots above i's. Klitschko managed to lock Chagaev in the corner of the ring and started to overwhelm him with straight one-twos. It is surprising how he survived, and it is logical that after this, the Uzbek's coach, Michael Timm, did not let his fighter to continue.[18]