Big Weekend of Boxing at Schalke's Soccer Stadium in Germany Special

article:274529:10::0

Roger

By Roger Tshiamala Tubajiki

Jun 21, 2009 in Sports

Comments

By Roger Tshiamala Tubajiki.

The Veltins Arena in Genselkirsche, Germany, hosted on Saturday night, the IBF/IBO/WBO heavyweight champion bout between Wladimir Klitschko, the defending champion and Ruslan Chagaev, the WBA heavyweight champion in recess.

In front of 61, 000 enthusiastic fans at the Veltin Arena, a Bundesliga club Schalke's stadium, Wladimir Klitschko, the defending champion, scored a tenth-round TKO over Ruslan Chagaev, to retain his titles. With this victory over Chagaev, Wladimir Klitschko received in addition to his titles, the vacant Ring magazine heavyweight title.

Originally, the Schalke soccer club's Veltins Arena was to host the highly anticipated showdown between Wladimir Klitshko and former cruiserweight champion David Haye of England, but due to an injury suffered by the Briton David Haye, the bout was called off.

At the post-fight press conference, Wladimir expressed his understanding of the injury of David Haye, although he is upset with Haye team.

“I was shocked when I heard that David Haye couldn’t fight. I don’t blame him, knowing that any athlete can get injured, but I never, ever worked with such unprofessional people as David Haye and his team,”stated Klitschko, who still consider arranging another fight against David Haye.

As a replacement, Wladimir Klitschko elected to fight Ruslan Chagaev who was supposed to fight Nikolai Valuev for the WBA title in Helsinki, but due to Hepatitis-B antigens found in Chagaev's blood, that bout was cancelled. According to the Finnish boxing federation’s medical requirements, Ruslan Chagaev was unable to fulfil the medical requirements before his rematch with Nikolay Valuev.

Wladimir Klitschko also considers fighting other potential opponents such as, the #1 IBF heavyweight contenders Alexander Povetkin or the winner of the WBO heavyweight title eliminator bout between the American Eddie Chambers and the Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrinko that will take place on July 4th, 2009, in Germany.