Chagaev Cancels Bout For the Second Time

ESPN has reported that Ruslan Chagaev, one of the Russian heavyweight champs, by way of Uskebistan, has cancelled his July 5th rematch with the Beast from the East, Nikolay Valuev,  by way of  St. Petersburg (by way of nuclear chemical spill).  

While sparring during the final week of training before their second match-up, Chagaev twisted his foot and severely tore his achilles tendon.

"He made a step back towards the left and I immediately heard something," said Michael Timm, Chagaev's trainer. "From that moment I knew something was wrong."

This is the second major set back that has ailed Chagaev in the recent months resulting in the rescheduling of the bout. The previous reason cited for changing the date was a case of the ole' hepatitis and an upper respiratory infection (see in one of our favorite previous articles: Chagaev Cancels Bout).  

If he hadn't won the first fight, one would assume that he is trying to avoid getting in the ring with the 7 foot, 323 pound monster that is Valuev.  In the first meeting, Chagaev managed to move around enough to land clean punches and avoid being smothered by the massive body in front of him on his way to a decision victory.  A victory that handed Nikolay Valuev his first loss as a professional boxer.

The Beast from the East's always boisterous promoter, Don King, was very upset with the second cancellation.  "How many times is this dude going to pull out of a fight... He really doesn't want to fight the giant again. Valuev has trained for this fight twice. I want to see if the WBA will allow him to fight for the interim title immediately."

Although it makes our skin cringe to the bone, we have to agree with the King. Valuev could have possibly trained and fought two fights in the amount of time he has spent on this single one. And if or when these two get back in the ring, we believe that the outcome will be in Valuev's favor the second time around. 

By the way, you don't have to worry about resetting your Tivo or DVR because the fight was never going to be broadcasted in the first place.  Two slow-plodding Russians fighting for one the alphabet belts in the heavyweight divison - so very surprising that no one wanted to watch this exciting event.