By Matt Stein: On Saturday night, WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) will meet up with Ruslan Chagaev (25-0-1, 17 KOs), the champion in recess, to iron out who the real heavyweight champion is in the World Boxing Association, as if anyone really cares.

Perhaps the only place on Earth where this fight really matters is in Germany where both Chagaev and Valuev are both well liked by the German public despite the mediocre talent of both fighters. The bout will be taking place Hartwall Arena, in Helsinki, Finland, which is a strange place for a heavyweight championship match you would think. However, for this match somehow it’s fitting.

It might as well have taken place in a basement somewhere with home video cameras used, because this is likely going to be a boring affair if the fight is anywhere close to be like the first bout between Valuev and Chagaev two years ago in April 2007. In that fight, Chagaev used his speed to earn a close 12-round split decision over the 7-foot giant.

Chagaev would occasionally rush in to throw a few punches and then get away before Valuev could land anything. Giving up a foot in height to Valuev, the 6′ foot Chagaev rarely landed with his punches but by being the aggressor, he was able to get the close points decision.

Valuev, 35, has wanted a rematch since that loss but because of Chagaev’s combination of illnesses and injuries the fight was never able to take place until now. It’s actually a minor miracle that Chagaev even made it through training camp, because I suspected that he’d get injured or one of his old illnesses would flair up at any moment, making this fight cancelled.

Chagaev has rarely fought since beating Valuev in 2007, which is why Valuev was able to fight for the vacant title after one of Chagaev’s injuries took place in 2008. I’m not a fan of either fighter, but I’m hoping that Valuev gets the win on Saturday night, because he at least is able to defend the title every four to five months without getting hurt in training or sick.

If Chagaev wins the title, I fear that we’ll go back to him defending the title only once a year because of some sort of ache or pain, and I don’t that’s a good thing for boxing or the WBA to have a heavyweight champion like that.

Chagaev looked unimpressive in his yearly title defenses of his WBA belt, beating Matt Skelton and Carl Davis Drumond. The choice of opponents for Chagaev was poor, as if he was being spoon fed to prevent him from losing his title.

There were a handful of better opponents that Chagaev should have fought but instead took the easy path. Chagaev was a good fighter before winning the title against Valuev. Although clearly too small to beat the best heavyweights in the division like Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko or Alexander Dimitrenko, Chagaev was good enough to beat the medium sized heavyweights and ones like Valuev, who have no power.

But since winning the title, Chagaev has rarely been seen and his avoidance of taking on quality opposition is disturbing. He perhaps should have been stripped of his title over a year when his fight cancellations first started, because it’s become a regular routine for him at this point.