By Jim Dower: With yesterday’s shocking news of the bout between WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev being called off due to Chagaev being unable to meet the requirements of the Finish Boxing Federations’ medical requirements for the bout. According to Sky Sports, Chagaev had showed up positive for the hepatitis B virus on a pre-fight medical test. Whether that’s true or not isn’t known, but what is known is that Chagaev has failed the medical test for the bout.
Unfortunately, the cancellation of the bout means that all 11 bouts on the card are also called off as well. Those fights were actually the only thing good about this card, as the Valuev-Chagaev fight would have most probably been a stinker like the first fight between the two heavyweights two years ago in April 2007, which resulted in Chagaev winning by a 12 round majority decision.
What wonders me though is that how could Chagaev’s management team let this fight go forward if they knew that he had a serious illness that could potentially trip up the fight. In a press release from Chagaev’s promotional company, they say that he had been cleared in Germany to fight and that he had passed blood tests.
If that’s the case, how could Chagaev have suddenly gotten sick bad enough for the fight to be cancelled in Finland with only one day before the fight? If this was the disease that Chagaev had been rumored to have, perhaps it would have been wiser in hindsight to have the fight take place in Germany where things are a little more liberal than in Finland, wouldn’t you think?
With this latest pull out of Chagaev, now his third cancellation in the past year and half, it would seem unlikely that he will remain the WBA champion in recess in the future. It’s possible he will, because he has a powerful promotional company behind him, but it would seem an unwise move for the WBA to allow it to keep happening.
If Chagaev has a chronic illness that is contagious or potentially life threatening, he should deal with it rather than trying to continue fighting with it. As of now, it’s not known what the problem is with Chagaev since the Finish medical results weren’t given out the public.
However, this being the third cancellation for a fight with Valuev with at least one other additional cancellation of another bout before that due to medical reasons, it seems insane to waste time in trying to set up a fight with Chagaev as long as he’s having these reoccurring problems.
It would not be such a big deal if he wasn’t fighting with the title in his possession each time, because it’s tied down the title for too long without other fighters being given the chance at getting a shot at winning the belt. I think the WBA needs to do the right thing and remove Chagaev from his WBA champion of recess tag, and let Valuev hold the title down by himself.
Once Chagaev gets clear of whatever medical problem that he’s dealing with, then by all means he should go ahead and try to work his way back into title contention by beating two or three top contenders to get another shot.
If he can beat someone good like Chris Arreola and Alexander Dimitrenko, and not be thrown off by additional medical issues, then let him get another shot at the title. But as it is right now, Chagaev should get back in line and prove that he can make a fight without pulling out again and again like he’s been doing for the past two years since winning the World Boxing Association title.
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