Ruslan Chagaev

Ruslan Chagaev, the former WBA heavyweight world champion, had a career that spanned more than 18 years from 1997 to 2016. He retired from professional boxing with a record of 34-3-1, which included 21 knockout wins and two losses via knockout and three title wins.

Chagaev made his professional debut at the age of 18 against Donnie Penelton on August 21, 1997, defeating Penelton via first-round knock out. He won his next four fights consecutively, which included three wins by stoppage.

Chagaev had his first world title fight at the age of 27 on March 11, 2006, after 20 professional fights, against Volodymyr Virchis for the heavyweight WBA title, which saw him win the bout via a 12 round majority decision, thus becoming the WBA heavyweight world champion.

Chagaev had a total of three losses in his professional boxing career, all of them in title bouts. He was stopped twice and lost once via decision. His first loss was against Wladimir Klitschko via 9th round RTD on June 20, 2009, which ended his 25-fight win streak.

Chagaev won three world titles at heavyweight during his career. His notable victories include wins over Francesco Pianeta, Nikolai Valuev, Volodymyr Virchis, Mike Sheppard, Billy Zumbrun, Werner Kreiskott, and Carl Davis Drumond.

His last professional fight was a heavyweight title defense bout against Australian boxer Lucas Browne on March 5, 2016. Chagaev lost the fight via 10th round TKO, losing his WBA (Regular) title.

Chagaev fought a total of 38 times during his professional career, with 34 wins to his name. He recorded 21 of those wins via knockout and had one draw and no no-contests.

Moving on to Chagaev's career highlights, there were four fights that stood out in his career. On March 11, 2006, he won his first world title by defeating Volodymyr Virchis via 12-round majority decision for the WBA heavyweight title. Later that year, on November 18, Chagaev beat John Ruiz via a 12th round split-decision. The following year on April 14, he won the WBA heavyweight title from Nikolai Valuev, by beating him via 12 round majority decision.

The last major highlight of his career came on July 11, 2015, when he successfully defended the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title against Francesco Pianeta, winning the fight via 1st round TKO.

In conclusion, Ruslan Chagaev was a formidable boxer who had a successful career in the ring. He had a remarkable record of 34-3-1, including 21 knockouts and three world title wins. Although he suffered three losses in his career, they were all to strong opponents in title bouts. His four major highlights are indicative of his skill in the ring, and demonstrate the reason he was held in high regard by boxing fans and pundits alike.

Ruslan Chagaev Fight Record