Holyfield to fight Ibragimov for title

WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev, who was scheduled to meet WBO titleholder Sultan Ibragimov on Oct. 13 in Moscow, withdrew from the fight Thursday because of an undisclosed stomach ailment, a source involved in the fight said.

Following Chagaev's decision to not fight, Ibragimov's promoters announced that Holyfield would fill the card in a quest to win the the heavyweight title for a fifth time. Holyfield will be fighting in Russia for the first time.

"This will be an unforgettable night," Leon Margules, executive director of Seminole Warriors Boxing, said in a news conference in Moscow.

Broadcast plans have not been determined.

The 44-year-old Holyfield (42-8-2, 27 KOs) last fought on June 30, when he won a 10-round unanimous decision from Lou Savarese in El Paso, Tecas, to remain undefeated in his latest comeback.

There hasn't been a recognized world heavyweight champion since the retirement of Lennox Lewis in January 2004. For the division, there hasn't been a unification fight since Lewis became the undisputed champion by defeating Holyfield in their November 1999 rematch.

Ibragimov, 32, of Russia, won the WBO version of the heavyweight title on June 2 with a lopsided unanimous decision against Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City, N.J. Chagaev, 28, a native of Uzbekistan based in Germany, won a majority decision to lift the WBA belt from Nikolai Valuev on April 14 in Germany.

"Of course I'm disappointed that Chagaev pulled out of our fight and won't allow me to unify our titles, but fighting a legend like Evander Holyfield is even better," Ibragimov said. "And though I respect what he has done in his career, once the bell rings it will be all business, because he is trying to take what I have worked so hard for -- my world championship."

I agree 100%.

I have to agree.

I will be watching and hoping Holy puts up a valiant effort and decides to hang up the gloves if he loses and I agree a stoppage is probably likely.

I'm a big fan but have really questioned the motivation behind these comebacks - weather or not he needs money for the upkeep of his estate, alimony and child support. The public has been fed excuse after excuse about his performances for the past 10 years and yet here we are - again - with no real urgency about age and the window of opportunity closing. Up until the past year or 2 he NEVER said anything about making a living - it was all about the belts. But recently it's slipped and he's asked why are people preventing me from making a living? Also seemed odd that if he felt that he was truly the best and wanted to unify the belts why was he only fighting once every year or two?

How he got a title shot, other than the money it generates, is beyond me. On the surface, his last performance was as good as he's looked in a LONGGGG time and I started thinking that maybe the shoulder injuries DID have alot to do with it. But this time I'm going to be objective and this recent string of wins just make him look better than what he actually is because of the hand-picked opponents he's faced.

It's hard to tell from one fight and obviously, we won't know until the 13th but Holy fans, don't get your hopes up. We've been down this road before.

 If you go back and watch his fights from the early 90's as opposed to post-Mike Tyson there is a huge difference. Granted he's not gonna be the Holyfield that had all the tools to DOMINATE Bowe One if he had faught the entire fight as he did the 1st round.  BUT now (with the exception of his last fight) it's been all about fainting and counter-punching to set everything up - and it's usually only one punch at a time. 

That's all he's done since 1995 is stand there bob his head and try to bait his opponent to throw a punch. The jab has been non-existant. A pretty obvious clue that he his hesitant to pull the trigger.  Before Savarese, I asked for 10 years, Why doesn't he use the f*cking jab???  Yeah, the shoulders --That's what we've been told but his statements alone have been making him alot of undeserving paychecks in the last 3 quarters of a decade.

 If one looks at everything objectively this should be the end of the road. If he wins, hey, give him a chance to fight for another belt but the next loss....Holy, just retire. I live about 90 minutes down the NYS Thruway from Canastota and would like to be around to see the induction. 21 years until I retire. God, I hope he's not STILL fighting.