thanx chagaev

History owes Ruslan Chagaev a huge debit of gratitude. And when I say huge, I'm talking bigger than Big Ben and the Empire State Building.

Chagaev stopped promoter Don King from perpetrating one of the greatest boxing frauds on the public since the Shelby, Montana debacle during the Great Depression.

Chagaev is being hailed here today because he beat Nicolay Valuev, whom King co-promotes with German promoter Wilfred Sauerland. King trotted Valuev around New York City last summer on a tour to promote Valuev as the Eighth Wonder of the World. But King's biggest hype - and the potential fraud - was telling everyone that Valuev would break Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0 and be worthy of the kind the praise the came with that feat.

It was a claim King could get people who don't know boxing to bite on and swallow whole. But it was the kind of hype that was completely unappetizing to boxing purist. Now, we don't have to worry about it.

Valuev is now 46-1, thanks to a majority decision by Chagaev in Stuttgart, Germany on Saturday night. And Marciano's record is safe. Chagaev is the new World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, which is like the flavor of the week at Baskin Robbins Ice Cream shop the way the division is going.

I have nothing against Valuev. In meeting him during that tour last summer, I actually found him to charming, intelligent and engaging even though we had a major language barrier. But it was unthinkable for me to imagine Valuev being mentioned in the same breath as Marciano.

There is nothing in Valuev's record or on his resume to put him in the same class as Marciano. I know you can make the argument that he beat the people they put in front of him.

But there aren't a lot of killers among those 46-straight victims who were put in front of Valuev in order for him to build that undefeated record. I would argue that Marciano faced better opposition in building his undefeated record than Valuev did.

Valuev is a great story: a 7-foot, 340-pound Goliath who has physics on his side, even though his skills are rudimentary. He got a late start in boxing, beginning when he was 20. Imagine if he had come up as a boxer from youth, combining that size with skills and learning how to throw punches with enough snap to...well, it's a frightening thought.

Chagaev was a pugilistic David. He was slinging punches at a rate greater than Valuev during the middle rounds, and while they didn't hurt Valuev those punches did score points. I recall talking to Hasim Rahman before he fought Oleg Maskaev, and Rahman told me the only heavyweight he was concerned with was Chagaev because of his high work rate. Turns out Rahman is a better assessor of talent than he is a fighter.

Everyone knew that Valuev was a sitting duck for anyone who could box and take a punch. Monte Barrett, who gave away 100 pounds, withstood 11 rounds of clubbing punches from Valuev. But Barrett didn't throw enough punches to keep Valuev from wearing him down.

Even Evander Holyfield, the old warrior, recognized the vulnerability of Valuev. He mentioned him as the most expeditious route to realizing his fantasy of being undisputed heavyweight champion again.

In the next few months some other heavyweight champions could be following Valuev to the dethroned room.

Shannon Briggs, the World Boxing Organization champion, is supposed to fight Sultan Ibragimov on June 2. I'm not a great fan of Ibragimov, but if he comes in motivated he could give Briggs major trouble. Briggs does not inspire confidence as a man who is willing to go the extra mile to remain heavyweight champion.

It was the way he won the title, gasping and wheezing his way through a yawner, until he landed a shot in the last 30 seconds of the 12th round that sent Sergei Liakhovich out of the round. That doesn't inspire much confidence.

Negotiations are underway for Oleg Maskaev to defend the World Boxing Council title against Samuel Peter, the hard-hitting Nigerian who knocked Wladmir Klitschko down three times but couldn't put him away.

Maskaev has plenty of heart and can punch as he proved against Rahman to win the title. But against a young, strong, hungry and angry (Peter was jerked around by Maskaev's reps as they tried to cheat him out of his title shot) like Peter, Maskaev could be in more trouble than Briggs against Ibragimov.

Wladimir Klitschko isn't risking too much in his next defense, fighting Lamon Brewster. This is not the same Brewster who beat Klitschko three years ago for the W.B.O. title. This version of Brewster is coming off surgery to repair a torn retina.

In the absence of all the titleholders fighting each other to determine an undisputed heavyweight champion, boxing fans must settle for whatever excitement that they can get from the dead division.

At least Chagaev sent a charge through the division for a weekend, setting up the potential for a domino effect for the other challengers who are inclined to tilt at their own giant windmills. For that, and keeping Marciano's record safe from an imposter, Chagaev should be applauded.

Before we get too much more excited about him, we'll have to see if he can fight.

PUNCHLINES

If Nicolay Valuev's loss to Ruslan Chagaev was the long of it, then featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao's TKO victory over Jorge Solis was the short of it last weekend. Pacquaio stopped Solis after a cut was opened on Pacquiao's head.

That seemed to put a sense of urgency in the Filipino's fight strategy. Pacquiao proved he still packs a punch even though he is running for a congressional seat in his native Philippines as he put Solis on the canvas twice in the eighth round before the match was stopped.

I hope Pacquiao wins his political race. His fight on the floor of congress will make those political spats from Thailand look like a four-round walkout bout!

Couldn't tell from the replays what caused the cut on Ruben Galvin's head during his match against Zab Judah. It looked like Judah's elbow might have grazed Galvin's head after Judah threw a punch.

Whatever the case it ended in a no contest and I still don't know whether Judah has scraped off enough ring rust from his one-year suspension to be ready to tangle with Miguel Cotto on June 9.

Knew the return of big-time boxing to U.S. network TV was too good to be true as Antonio Tarver's return against Elvir Miriqui, which was supposed to be broadcast on ABC on Sunday, was postponed. Apparently promoter Joe DeGuardia had some trouble lining up commercials for the block of time that he was buying to show the fight.
;D