Ruslan Chagaev Proves Size Doesn’t Matter
In Stuttgart Germany on Saturday it really looked like David and Goliath. Ruslan Chagaev came in as a challenger to WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolai Valuev. Chagaev was giving away almost a foot in height and nearly 90 pounds to the seven foot giant.
Chagaev was a heavy underdog, Valuev held a record of 46-0 coming into the fight and in the past he’s used his enormous height and reach advantage to out jab smaller opponents. All the boxing world pretty much assumed that this fight was going to be more of the same, but Chagaev has a history of, not only taking on, but beating bigger opponents. In his amatuer days he was one of the few boxers who managed to beat the 6 foot 5 inch Felix Savon.
Chagaev adopted some unusual training methods in preparation for the fight, including having his trainer stand on a box while sparring to get used to fighting an opponent so much larger.
In the fourth round, the much smaller challenger managed to break inside the champions jab and land several shots. From that moment on Chagaev grew bolder, he continued landing punches and winning rounds, ultimately out-pointing the Russian in a twelve round majority decision.
To the surprise of all, it was a great fight form the opening bell to the final seconds. Neither fighter held anything back in the 12th, knowing that it was going to be close on the scorecards.
Watch some of the action from the toe to toe 11th and 12th rounds as Chagaev out quicks and outwits the much larger champion, earning his slice of the Heavyweight gold in one of the best heavyweight fights of the last year.
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