Chagaev vs. Valuev rematch - Entire Show Called Off!

[Butterball]

They should send Danny "die mother****ers" Williams in to do the job.

[The Hammer]

Total incompetence by Sauerland; late replacements in boxing are a part of the sport...

Exactly!

The fight that interested me most was Helenius vs. Gammer. No need to call off the whole card, this is incompetence on the part of the promoters! They could have replaced Chagaev with Brewster or Meehan.

[Texanballer]

Now we have to wait another 2 years for a rematch, while im sure John Ruiz gets another shot at one of these guys

[TheGreatA]

There's still a chance that the undercard fights will be fought, atleast some of them. It will be decided by the promoters of the show.

[Jim Jeffries]

Doesn't Chagaev have hepatitis? Pretty sure that's the reason for this and his activity, or lack of it, over the last couple years.

[Hitman932]

Wauw. First HW title fight in Finland and then it gets called off by some freak injury! What a shame.

This isn't a freak injury.

This is a fighter (Chagaev) and his promotor (Universum) knowingly covering up a serious and potentially life threatening (for his opponent) illness to make money.

Not only are they putting Valuev at risk but also the referee and anybody sitting close enough to the ring to be spattered by Chagaev's dirty Hepatitis infected blood.

This is a complete disgrace and just goes to show how little respect the German promotors have for the sport and how little they care about conducting themselves the right way.

Carl David Drummond should sue Universum and Chagaev for exposing him to Hep-B. Clearly in Germany they were able to rig the tests and endanger everyone unlike in an honest, decent country like Finland.

Injury? C'mon! You should know communicable diseases are not injuries.

[FLYBOY]

great, we still have 2 WBA champions...is there going to be a replacement?

lol the heavyweight division these days is full of clowns... the 7 feet monster that looks like a **** head literally. then you have got wladimir klitschko who fights worse than my grandmother would. then you have got vitali klitschko who I like but he suffers a lot of injuries, then you have David Haye who is good and I hope he takes out wlad's life. chris arreola lol wtf is this fat guy doing in BOXING? i would punch his stomach all night long and make him throw up those big mac's he ate all his life.

[The Hammer]

The article says that Chagaev failed the medical, but quotes the promoter as saying "Valuev's health is the top priority."

-Just read the prior article, which says Chagaev tested positive for Hepatitis B and Valuev was given the option to revieve a vaccination and go on with the fight. I suppose the promoter is referring to the risk to Valuev's health in contracting the virus.

-So where's this leave Chagaev's carreer is the obvious question.. I am aware of other fighters who've had hepatitis, i.e. Evander Holyfield. Still, the publicity around the incident surely won't help.

Henry Akinwande had hep B and recovered, but it seems Chagaev has the far worse chronic form which affects one in twenty people who get Hep B.

Ruslan probably won't live past age 50.

[Hitman932]

Aren't there supposed to be contigency plans i.e. backup plans for all big fights? A late replacement is nothing new in boxing and it's ridiculous that the promoters couldn't get Meehan or Brewster to fight instead of calling off the whole card. That's alot of money being lost...

Especially in Meehan's case. The guy has won quite a few fights now. The Williamson KO was spectacular and I think it was an eliminator.

My guess is Sauerland wanted to pay Meehan about $5 extra to take on Valuev.

[The Hammer]

This isn't a freak injury.

This is a fighter (Chagaev) and his promotor (Sauerland) knowingly covering up a serious and potentially life threatening (for his opponent) illness to make money.

Ruslan Chagaev is promoted by UNIVERSUM, not Sauerland.