By Sean McDaniel: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye may be able to avoid facing his number #1 mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev if the British Boxing Board fail to approve him. The Board is currently waiting on the 32-year-old Chagaev’s medical reports to make a decision whether they’ll permit Chagaev to enter the UK to fight Haye. Chagaev reportedly had Hepatitis B in the past in 2007, and this medical problem got in the way of Chagaev fighting Nikolay Valuev in 2009.

In an article at the dailystar, BBBofC secretary Robert Smith had this to say: “We have a situation where we have had boxers in the past who have been refused permission to box here because they had hepatitis B.”

If the Board rules against Chagaev from entering the country, it may give Haye a way out of the fight, because he’s unlikely to agree to travel to Germany to fight Chagaev there and risk losing the fight to bad judging. And at the same time, it would make financial sense for Haye to fight outside of the UK in a neutral venue because the fight likely won’t sell out the way it will in the UK. As such, Haye will be able to dodge a dangerous fighter in Chagaev if the board comes to his rescue and doesn’t let Chagaev into the country. Haye would then take on either the number #2 contender Denis Boytsov or the #3, Alexander Povetkin. Both of them are dangerous in their own way, but at least they punch from the orthodox stance and aren’t nearly as experienced as Chagaev.