Ruslan Chagaev

Ruslan Chagaev Руслан Чагаев
Chagaev in 2007
Statistics
Real name	Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev
Nickname(s)	White Tyson
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Reach	188 cm (74 in)
Nationality	Uzbekistani
Born	(1978-10-19) 19 October 1978 Andijan, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union (now Uzbekistan)
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	34
Wins by KO	21
Losses	3
Draws	1
Medal record Representing  Uzbekistan Men's amateur boxing World Amateur Championships Belfast 2001 Super-heavyweight Asian Championships Tashkent 1999 Heavyweight

Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev (Tatar: Руслан Шамил улы Чагаев; Russian: Руслан Шамилович Чагаев); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2016. He is a two-time WBA heavyweight champion, having held the full world title from 2007 to 2009, and the Regular title from 2014 to 2016. To date, Chagaev remains the only Asian boxer in the history of the sport to hold a heavyweight world title by any of the four major sanctioning bodies.

In 2007 he defeated then-unbeaten Nikolai Valuev to win the WBA heavyweight title for the first time, and would make two successful defences. Due to injuries and being unable to grant Valuev a rematch in 2009, the WBA stripped Chagaev of the title. He went on to suffer his first professional loss in the same year to Wladimir Klitschko, who held the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles; the vacant Ring magazine and lineal titles were also at stake.

Chagaev won the WBA heavyweight title for a second time—this time the Regular version—by defeating Fres Oquendo in 2014. He made one successful defence, but lost the title to Lucas Browne in 2016. However, after Browne failed a drug test, the WBA reinstated Chagaev as champion, but he was once again stripped of the title in July after failing to pay sanctioning fees. On 28 July 2016 he announced his retirement from boxing due to ongoing eye injuries.^[1]

As an amateur, Chagaev won gold medals at the 2001 World Championships and 1999 Asian Championships, in the heavyweight and super-heavyweight divisions respectively.

Professional career

1997-2005: Early career

Ruslan Chagaev (center) inside the ring with his coach Michael Timm (right) challenging Rob Calloway (left). 7 January 2006).

Having fought twice in 1997, Chagaev returned to amateur boxing. He turned pro fully in 2001, with the only flaw on his early record coming 5 October 2002 bout against Rob Calloway in Detroit, Michigan, United States. At the end of third round, the fight was stopped due to Calloway having a wound caused by a headbutt. Michigan boxing rule mandated that the fight be called a Technical Draw (TD) since the bout ended by an accidental foul. Usually four rounds are needed to go to the score cards for decision.

Chagaev slowly but steadily climbed up the heavyweight ranks, first avenging the no-contest with a brutal second round knockout of Calloway.

2006: Title contender

In 2006 he beat undefeated Ukrainian prospect Vladimir Virchis in a close and intense punchfest, and slowly took apart prominent British boxer Michael Sprott. On 18 November 2006, he fought the former WBA champion John Ruiz, and prevailed in a close contest. He took a split decision with scores of 117–111 and 116–112 for Chagaev, and 115–114 for Ruiz. Chagaev became the mandatory challenger for a shot at Nikolai Valuev, the WBA heavyweight champion at the time.

2007-2009

WBA Heavyweight Champion and title defense

Chagaev defeated Valuev on 14 April 2007 by a majority decision (117–111, 115–113 and 114–114) to win the title.

On 26 June 2007, it was announced that Ruslan Chagaev would partake in a heavyweight unification bout with WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov. The fight was due to take place in Moscow on 13 October 2007 and would have been the first heavyweight unification bout since 1999;^[2] however, Chagaev had to drop out of the fight after contracting hepatitis B.^[3] At that point, it was not clear whether he would have been able to compete at all, with WBA considering a championship tournament for Chagaev's crown.^[4] After Ibragimov defended his crown against Evander Holyfield, however, it was announced that Chagaev was able to recover.

Chagaev defended his WBA heavyweight title against Matt Skelton on 19 January 2008 by unanimous decision.

His next mandatory defense was to be a rematch on 5 July 2008 with Nikolai Valuev, who defeated former WBO champion Sergei Liakhovich by unanimous decision to earn the right. However, the fight had to be cancelled after Chagaev suffered a complete tear of an Achilles tendon during his final sparring session in preparation for the defense, causing Chagaev's second postponement of the match. The WBA elected to make Chagaev "Champion in Recess" due to the injury that Chagaev sustained and necessary recovery time and mandated that top-contenders Valuev and John Ruiz meet for the vacated title. By beating Ruiz, Valuev also became champion on 30 August 2008.

Second title defense

Chagaev returned from injury on 7 February 2009 with a victory over the then-unbeaten Costa Rican, Carl Davis Drumond to retain his title. The bout was decided by a controversial technical decision after Chagaev sustained a cut from an unintentional clash of heads. Chagaev and Nikolai Valuev were supposed to fight no later than 26 June 2009 to determine who the WBA regarded as their champion.^[5] They were scheduled to fight on 30 May 2009 in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena, but Chagaev failed a Finnish medical test, allegedly due to hepatitis. On 24 July 2009, when the WBA published their Official Ratings as of June 2009, Chagaev was no longer the "Champion in Recess" but the No. 1 challenger instead.

Chagaev vs. Klitschko

Chagaev was defeated for the first time in his professional career in a bout with Wladimir Klitschko on 20 June 2009 with a 9th round ref stoppage. Klitschko retained his WBO, IBO & IBF crowns and won the vacant Ring magazine title. The fight was held at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, and Klitschko's WBO, IBO & IBF heavyweight titles were at stake.

The WBA title that he shared with Nikolai Valuev was not at stake, as the WBA confirmed Valuev was to be the WBA Champion.

2010-11: WBA elimination bout and vacant WBA title shot

Chagaev fought Kali Meehan (35–3; 29 KO) on 22 May 2010, in a WBA Heavyweight Title Eliminator at the Stadthalle in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The former WBA champion won the bout by unanimous decision with the scores of 117–111, 117–112 and 118–110.^[6] Six months later in a stay busy fight, he defeated Travis Walker on points in an eight round fight. On 27 August 2011 Chagaev lost a competitive bout against Alexander Povetkin by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

2012-16: Return victories and recapturing WBA title

After the Povetkin bout, Chagaev went 5-0 (3 KO), defeating world ranked Jovo Pudar & four journeymen with respectable records. Next he took on Fres Oquendo for the vacant WBA regular Heavyweight title & won the fight by majority decision. The current WBA (Super) World Heavyweight Champion is Tyson Fury, who is also the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine Heavyweight Champion.

Chagaev vs. Pianeta

In his first title defense, he stopped long time contender Francesco Pianeta in the first round.

Chagaev vs. Browne

On 5 March 2016, Lucas Browne made history by becoming the first Australian to win a version of the world heavyweight championship, by stopping Chagaev in ten rounds to become WBA (Regular) heavyweight champion in Russia. Browne landed nearly 20 unanswered punches, mostly right hands, before referee Stanley Christodoulou stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 27 seconds.^[1] Browne was knocked down in the sixth round and at the time of the knockout, behind on all judges scorecards (81-88, 82-88 twice).^[2]

It was reported on March 22 that Browne failed his post-fight drug test and was then stripped of the belt and will likely have the result changed to a no-decision.^[7][8]

On July 28, it was reported that Chagaev had been stripped of his WBA 'Regular' title for failure to pay outstanding sanctioning fees. According to WBA, Chagaev and promoter Timur Dugazaev have repeatedly failed to pay $40,750 in sanctioning fees related to Chagaev's majority decision victory against Fres Oquendo. The WBA said it sought payment multiple times and had no choice but to vacate the title when there was no response.^[9]

Retirement

It was announced on July 28, 2016 by manager Timur Dugashev that Chagaev announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 37 due to problems with the eyes. Dugashev stated: "Ruslan informed us that he would no longer fight. The reason is the state of his eyes. Health is the most important thing."^[10]

There was reports in October 2016 that Chagaev was offered a farewell fight to close his career, potentially a rematch with Lucas Browne. Chagaev chose to stay retired due to health issues.^[11]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
38	Loss	34–3–1	Lucas Browne	TKO	10 (12), 2:02	5 Mar 2016	Colosseum Sport Hall, Grozny, Russia	Lost WBA (Regular) heavyweight title; Chagaev later reinstated as champion after Browne failed a drug test
37	Win	34–2–1	Francesco Pianeta	TKO	1 (12), 2:57	11 Jul 2015	GETEC Arena, Magdeburg, Germany	Retained WBA (Regular) heavyweight title
36	Win	33–2–1	Fres Oquendo	MD	12	6 Jul 2014	Akhmat-Arena, Grozny, Russia	Won vacant WBA (Regular) heavyweight title
35	Win	32–2–1	Jovo Pudar	UD	12	5 Oct 2013	Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Won vacant WBA Continental and PABA heavyweight titles
34	Win	31–2–1	Mike Sheppard	KO	1 (10), 1:40	22 Mar 2013	Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany
33	Win	30–2–1	Werner Kreiskott	TKO	7 (8), 0:14	1 Sep 2012	König Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany
32	Win	29–2–1	Billy Zumbrun	TKO	3 (8), 1:26	21 Apr 2012	Sport- und Kongresshalle, Schwerin, Germany
31	Win	28–2–1	Kertson Manswell	UD	8	28 Jan 2012	Grand Elysée Rotherbaum, Hamburg, Germany
30	Loss	27–2–1	Alexander Povetkin	UD	12	27 Aug 2011	Messe, Erfurt, Germany	For vacant WBA (Regular) heavyweight title
29	Win	27–1–1	Travis Walker	UD	8	19 Nov 2010	Universum Gym, Hamburg, Germany
28	Win	26–1–1	Kali Meehan	UD	12	22 May 2010	StadtHalle, Rostock, Germany
27	Loss	25–1–1	Wladimir Klitschko	RTD	9 (12), 3:00	20 Jun 2009	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	For IBF, WBO, IBO, vacant The Ring and lineal heavyweight titles
26	Win	25–0–1	Carl Davis Drumond	TD	6 (12), 3:00	7 Feb 2009	StadtHalle, Rostock, Germany	Retained WBA heavyweight title; Unanimous TD after Chagaev sustained a cut from an accidental head clash
25	Win	24–0–1	Matt Skelton	UD	12	19 Jan 2008	Burg-Wächter Castello, Düsseldorf, Germany	Retained WBA heavyweight title
24	Win	23–0–1	Nikolai Valuev	MD	12	14 Apr 2007	Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Germany	Won WBA heavyweight title
23	Win	22–0–1	John Ruiz	SD	12	18 Nov 2006	Burg-Wächter Castello, Düsseldorf, Germany
22	Win	21–0–1	Michael Sprott	TKO	8 (12), 2:54	15 Jul 2006	Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title; Won WBO Asia-Pacific heavyweight title
21	Win	20–0–1	Vladimir Virchis	MD	12	11 Mar 2006	Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany	Won WBA and WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight titles
20	Win	19–0–1	Rob Calloway	KO	2 (10), 2:10	7 Jan 2006	Zenith, Munich, Germany
19	Win	18–0–1	Mark Krence	KO	5 (8), 1:28	22 Oct 2005	Brandberge Arena, Halle, Germany
18	Win	17–0–1	Jucimar Francisco Hipolito	TKO	1 (8), 0:50	28 Sep 2005	Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
17	Win	16–0–1	Sherman Williams	UD	8	26 Mar 2005	Erdgas Arena, Riesa, Germany
16	Win	15–0–1	Tommy Connelly	TKO	2 (8), 1:51	14 Dec 2004	Freizeit Arena, Sölden, Austria
15	Win	14–0–1	Asmir Vojnovic	TKO	4 (10), 0:45	16 Nov 2004	Kugelbake-Halle, Cuxhaven, Germany
14	Win	13–0–1	Willie Williams	KO	3 (8), 2:25	26 Oct 2004	Scandlines Arena, Rostock, Germany
13	Win	12–0–1	Garing Lane	KO	5 (8), 1:46	31 Jul 2004	Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany
12	Win	11–0–1	Sedreck Fields	KO	2 (8), 2:45	22 Jun 2004	Sportzentrum, Telfs, Austria
11	Win	10–0–1	Wade Lewis	TKO	1 (6), 2:33	18 May 2004	Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
10	Win	9–0–1	Alexey Varakin	KO	2 (6)	30 Mar 2004	Saaltheater Geulen, Aachen, Germany
9	Win	8–0–1	Sedreck Fields	UD	6	17 Feb 2004	Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
8	Win	7–0–1	Daniel Frank	KO	2 (6), 0:54	8 Nov 2003	Universum Gym, Hamburg, Germany
7	Win	6–0–1	Zakeem Graham	TKO	3 (10), 2:26	22 May 2003	Raceway, Yonkers, New York, US
6	Draw	5–0–1	Rob Calloway	TD	3 (10), 2:41	5 Oct 2002	Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan, US	TD after Calloway sustained a cut from an accidental head clash
5	Win	5–0	Chris Isaac	UD	8	11 May 2002	Grand Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi, US
4	Win	4–0	Val Smith	KO	1 (4), 2:26	14 Jan 2002	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada, US
3	Win	3–0	Everett Martin	TKO	4 (4)	21 Sep 2001	Sport Palace Yunusabad, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2	Win	2–0	Brian Jones	KO	2 (4), 1:10	3 Sep 1997	Ramada Inn, Rosemont, Illinois, US
1	Win	1–0	Donnie Penelton	KO	1 (4), 2:30	21 Aug 1997	Hollywood Casino, Aurora, Illinois, US	Professional debut

Titles in boxing

Personal life

Chagaev is of Volga Tatar ethnicity and an adherent of Islam.^[12][13] His parents, Shamil and Zamira Chagaev, are Mishar Tatars from the village of Kalda^[12] (located in today's Baryshsky District of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia), who moved to the Uzbek SSR in the 1950s.^[12] Chagaev has a sister, Luiza.^[12] He is married to Viktoria, an ethnic Armenian,^[14] who is also from Andijan. They have two children together. Their first son, Artur, was born on 24 March 2004. Ruslan resides in Hamburg, Germany with his family.

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List of left-handed boxers

References

External links

• Official site of Ruslan Chagaev
• Ruslan Chagaev Fight-by-Fight Career Record
• News and Pictures of Ruslan Chagaev
• Professional boxing record for Ruslan Chagaev from BoxRec
• Ministry of Cultural and Sports Affairs of Uzbekistan