By Paul McCreath: On Friday November 19 in Wandsbek Germany two top 10 heavyweights in The Ring ratings and another undefeated prospect swing back into action on an attractive Universum card. #5 ranked Ruslan Chagaev meets ever dangerous Travis Walker,#7 ranked Denis Boytsov is matched with trial horse Mike Sheppard and prospect Manuel Charr is up against tricky old pro Robert Hawkins.All bouts are over 8 rounds.

Chagaev is currently the mandatory challenger for David Haye and is basically marking time while Haye collects his big pay check against Audley Harrison. He became the mandatory by outpointing Kali Meehan over 12 rounds last May.He is a former world belt holder who never lost his title in the ring. In June of last year when Haye pulled out of his fight with Wlad Klitschko and Nicolay Valuev refused to meet Chagaev for medical reasons Ruslan signed to meet Wlad instead. He was stripped of his title as a result of these happenings and then lost in 9 rounds to Wlad. This remains his only loss.He has defeated John Ruiz and Valuev in an earlier fight when he won his belt and also defended against Matt Skelton and Carl Davis Drummond. He is still only 32 years old and healthy again.

His opponent Walker is one of the most exciting heavyweights in the world. He has good power as his 28 KOs in 34 wins would suggest but he also has a weak chin.He has been stopped in all 5 of his defeats, not all against top opponents. With Travis it is nearly always a KO one way or the other. He gave Chris Arreola a real scare when he dropped Chris in their bout back in November of 2008 but Chris got up to win in the 3rd round. In his last bout he was stopped rather controversially in 4 rounds by Alex Leapai last June in Australia after a real war. If you have not seen this one yet check it out on Youtube. It was a great fight. Expect Chagaev to chalk up another KO win this time especially if Walker turns up overweight as he sometimes does. It will likely come before the 5th round after some early fireworks.

Boytsov’s fight is pretty much a tune-up. He is coming back after hand surgery and wants an easy one this time. Mike Sheppard who comes in with a 15-11-1 record should fit the bill nicely. Denis is considered by many to be the best of the young up and coming heavies and is undefeated in 27 fights with 22 KOs.His best wins came last year with a 6 round KO over fringe contender Taras Bidenko and a 7 round stoppage of always tough Jason Gavern.Expect another KO win for Boytsov in 5 rounds or less.

Manuel Charr has the toughest task among the three house fighters. His opponent Robert Hawkins loses often but nearly always goes the distance and he has fought many of the top names in the division.He is a tricky 40 year old pro who knows how to survive.In his last 5 losses he went the distance with Boytsov,Mo Harris and Oleg Maskaev as well as prospects Ondrej Pala and Bermane Stiverne. He outpointed Dominick Guinn in December of 2007.

Charr has had only 14 fights so far and has been idle since January when he stopped faded contender Owen Beck in the tenth and last round.His other notable win came by KO in 7 over Gbenga Oloukan whom you may remember outpointed Lamon Brewster. Charr should win this one on points but it won’t be easy.