By Eric Thomas: Fightnews.com is reporting that the German promotional company Universum is threatening the World Boxing Association [WBA] with a potential lawsuit. Universum promotes former WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (27-1-1, 17 KO’s), who defeated Kali Meehan by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in May 2010 to become the mandatory challenger for WBA heavyweight champion David Haye.
Chagaev was supposed to have been given a shot at Haye’s title by April. However, instead of defending his strap against Chagaev, Haye is looking to fight a unification bout against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in June or July of this year while Chagaev is left with no title fight. Klaus-Peter Kohl, Chagaev’s promoter, paid the fees for Chagaev to fight Meehan last year in the WBA title eliminator, thinking it was going to lead to a title shot for his fighter.
However, with Haye now fighting Klitschko instead of Chagaev, you could see why Kohl and Chagaev might not be happy right now. In addition, there have been rumors floating around that the WBA will be elevating Haye into a position called WBA Super World champion. The regular WBA heavyweight title would then be fought over by the likes of Alexander Povetkin and Jean Marc Mormeck. That’s not exactly an appealing situation for Chagaev if it does come down to this, because those fighters aren’t big names and won’t likely bring in anywhere near the same kind of money as a fight against Haye or one of the Klitschkos. Chagaev would stand a good chance of beating Haye, because of Chagaev’s southpaw stance, good chin and experience.
Chagaev already lost to Wladimir in 2009. However, if Chagaev were able to fight Haye and beat him, he would have been able to make a lot of money in a unification bout against one of the Klitschkos.
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