Chagaev vs. Drumond on February 7th

By Boxing News - 12/25/2008 - Comments

chagaev42335By Jim Dower: Heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev (24-0-1, 17 KOs), the WBA champion in recess, will make a rare defense of his title on February 7th against number #9th ranked Carl Davis Drumond, 33, at Stadthalle, Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Chagaev, 30, has experienced both illness and injury in the past year, initially keeping him from fighting a unification bout with WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov on October 13th, and then injuring his Achilles tendon while training for a title defense against former champion Nikolay Valuev on July 5th.

Following this latest cancellation, Chagaev was given the title of “Champion in recess” by the WBA. Chagaev should consider himself quite fortunate that he wasn’t stripped of his title outright, because many people were of the opinion that he has been inactive for too long since winning the WBA title with a close, 12-round majority decision over Valuev in April 2007.

Though Chagaev did end up defending his title once, against Matt Skelton in January 2008, nine months after winning the title against Valuev. However, with this latest cancellation, Chagaev will have been out of action for 13 months by the time he defends it against the unknown Drumond.

It’s unclear why Chagaev has chosen to face the 9th ranked Drumond rather than a top five opponent, because it would seem like the smart thing to do. At least if he were to fight a top fighter, people would have less room to criticize him for taking on another low quality fighter. Chagaev has already faced a non-top 15 fighter in Matt Skelton in January, and it seems disappointing that Chagaev would choose to fight another top five heavyweight after not his fight with Skelton.

Drumond (26-0, 20 KOs), from Costa Rica, is largely unknown, with his only two real quality wins on his resume coming against Kelvin David and Sedreck Fields. Beyond those two fights, Drumond has fought almost all his fights in Costa Rican against unknown fighters. As such, his record is obviously inflated, making it a mystery of how good he’ll be come fight night.

Based on his 20 knockouts in 26 fights, Drumond much have decent power to be able to knock that many fighters out. However, his advanced age coupled with his lack of competition, makes me think that this fight has mismatch written all over it.

Perhaps that is why Chagaev is seeking him out in the first place, because it would seem crazy to fight another lower level fighter after having already fought a marginal heavyweight in Skelton. If Chagaev comes out the victor against Drumond, then the next fight that will take place with be a rematch with Valuev.
Evander Holyfield, who Valuev recently beat in an unimpressive fashion last week, is trying to get an immediate rematch with Valuev. However, that probably won’t be happening, and if Holyfield does want to fight Valuev again, he’s just going to have to wait his turn.

As for Drumond, he probably has little chance at beating Chagaev. That is, unless Chagaev has suddenly gone downhill. I doubt that he has, so he should be able to defeat Drumond quite easily.