Negotiations between British heavyweight David Haye and IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko are moving along swiftly according to Haye’s manager Adam Booth. Haye was set to fight Vitali Klitschko for the WBC title, but Vitali will now face his mandatory opponent Juan Carlos Gomez.
Booth told Steve Bunce on Setanta Sports News that he was relieved the brothers had finally come to a decision. He said:
By Nate Anderson: In a fight that reminded me a lot of the second fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, in which Duran suddenly called it quits in the 8th round on November 1980, Italian heavyweight Paolo Vidoz (25-6, 14 KOs) quit at on his stool following the 9th round, thus giving Matt Skelton (22-2, 19 KOs) the win and along with it the vacant EBU (European) heavyweight title on Saturday night at PalaLido, in Milan, Lombardia, Italy. Vidoz, 387, had been fighting reasonably well going into the 9th round.
Undefeated IBF middleweight champion King Arthur Abraham celebrated another prestigious success this week when he … read more
Sinan Samil Sam has to take a break in preparing for his European heavyweight championship bout against Matt Skelton due to a hand injury. The title fight that was originally scheduled for May 30th in Istanbul will be postponed for about for weeks.
“It’s a pity”, states Sam. “I’m fired up to fight Skelton and I know that all of Turkey wants to see this fight. But at the moment I can’t use my left hand and I cannot take any risk before this fight. I know that this is my last chance to make it to the top. And I definitely don’t want to blow it.”
Matt Skelton’s European heavyweight title challenge against Sinan Samil Sam has been postponed because of an injury to the Turk. The fight was due to take place in Istanbul on May 30. However, it will now be arranged at a later date when Sam has fully recovered. Skelton was looking to get back to winning ways after losing a WBA world title fight against Ruslan Chagaev on points earlier this year..
In a fight that was marred by excessive wrestling on the inside, undefeated World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (24-0-1, 17 KOs) won a hard-fought unanimous decision over 40 year-old Matt Skelton (21-2, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at the Burg-Waechter Castello, in Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. In the opening round, Skelton found a way to negate Chagaev’s superior offensive attack, namely by grabbing him and trying to maul him on the inside. It worked perfectly, at least for awhile, as Skelton expertly used fine inside fighting tactics, such as holding and hitting, leaning on his opponent and rabbit punches, all to perfection.
The inside fighting also had the effect of wearing down Chagaev, who was making his first defense of his title which he won last year in April 2007, with a controversial majority decision over then champion Nikolay Valuev. Chagaev looked poor on that night, hardly seeming to win any rounds against the 7-foot giant, and didn’t look a whole better against Skelton. The problem for Skelton, however, is that he looked even worse than Chagaev, for he quickly ran out of gas after round three of the fight, and was like a large slug for the remaining rounds.
British Commonwealth heavyweight champion Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) goes up against the undefeated World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0, 17 KOs) this Saturday night in a 12-round bout at the Burg-Waechter Castello, in Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. It will be Chagaev’s long overdue first title defense of his WBA title in which he won nine months ago in a close majority decision over then champion Nicolay Valuev on April 14th, 2007. Now after all this time, Chagaev, nicknamed “The White Tyson,” has elected to take to fight 40 year-old Skelton, who himself is coming off a close decision victory of his own, a win over Michael Sprott in July 2007.
World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev finally makes his initial title defense when he takes on 40 year-old British challenger Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) on January 19th at the Burg-Waechter Castello, in Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Chagaev, 29, has been away from the ring for nine months, having battled both injuries and illness which have kept him away from action for the longest spell of his career. Chagaev, a fighter with good power and excellent counter-punching ability, figures to be hugely favored in the bout with Skelton.