By Alexey Sukachev
If anything, former WBA heavyweight king Ruslan Chagaev (33-2-1, 20 KOs), who is also the reigning WBA “regular” titleholder, is okay and ready to defend his title despite an ongoing tension and court issue with Team Fres Oquendo, who was defeated by Chagaev, 36, under some controversial circumstances in July 2014.
According to Chagaev’s promoter Timur Dugazaev of the Terek Boxing, Chagaev will fight next on June 27 in Germany in the optional defense of his belt against an ever dangerous TBA. And WBA #4 ranked Australian Lucas Browne (22-0, 19 KOs) will be just after that – either in Moscow or Grozny.
“That’ll be an optional defense but I cannot name the opponent just yet. After that we are planning to defend against our mandatory, who is Lucas Browne. We think the fight will go to the purse bid but we hope to outbid our rival promoters to stage this fight in Grozny or in Moscow”, said Dugazaev.
“We were first planning to fight on May 22 as a part of a huge Moscow doubleheader but, unfortunately, Browne wasn’t ready for that date. Right now our focus is on the optional defense on June 27, and only if successful, we shall think about the Australian”.
Chagaev is trained by Pedro Diaz and works in Florida before coming back to Germany on April 26.