Look again; Chagaev is 'champion in recess' while Valuev is champion. I think that just recognises Chagaev never lost the belt, and gets a crack at winning it back if/when he is fit enough.
Jesus, what a mess...
So in theory, as champion in recess Chagaev had until June 2009 to fight the winner of Valuev-Holyfield and reclaim "his" title. Except now we don't know who "won" the Valuev-Holyfield fight. So if the WBA Championship committee do order a Valuev-Holyfield rematch, what happens to their champion in recess? And regardless of all this, does anyone really want to see a rematch of a V-H fight no one wanted to see in the first place.
The sooner someone comes along and cleans up the heavyweight division the better.
I didn't see the fight they wanted 24.99 here in the US to view it on PPV. Anyone see it and how bad/good was it?....Lefty
You'll find the fight in the video trading forum here - post 16 by Eustabio.
Alternatively, just type "Holyfield Valuev Torrent" into a well known search engine and you will come up with a few options.
Being honest, I'm not sure what this whole thing will achieve: -
Whilst the WBA rules of boxing pretty much give the organisation the right to interpret the rules as they see fit, I don't see them overturning the initial decision and awarding the bout to Holyfield. At most, a rematch will be ordered and a series of expensive legal wrangles will then ensue, not least over who has the promotion rights to any re-match. This could drag on for months, and will detract yet further from status of what should be the pinnacle of boxing.
What I don't get is who is the actual WBA champion - Ruslan Chagev is listed on the WBA website as their heavyweight title holder, although BoxRec & Ring both show that the Valuev-Holyfield fight was for the WBA belt.
And of course all of this complicated by the fact that humans naturally continue to gain muscle mass and bone mineral density into their late twenties (and then sustain this through their thirties).
Hence, most fighters move up weight classes as their career goes on and heavyweights tend to get better with age.