Skelton comes face to face with Chagaev

If Ruslan Chagaev wanted to get face to face with Nikolay Valuev, he would have had to stand on a box. After scraping a narrow win over the Russian giant in Stuttgart in April, Chagaev got to meet his first challenger, Matt Skelton on Thursday at Gino's Restaurant in Dusseldorf.

The pair will meet at Burg-Wächter Castello, the home of a handball team called the Mini Lions, on January 19. And Skelton, whose age could be anywhere beteen the offical 39 and 43, is a big outsider.

The arena is the same one where Chagaev, who lives in Hamburg, beat John Ruiz in a WBA eliminator 13 months ago. Plans for a unification bout with Sultan Ibragimov, the WBO champion, in Octover were scrapped when Chagaev was suffering from hepatitis B, but he says he is now well and has been in training since September.

"Now I am fit again and the training is going super," Chagaev said. "It's unfortunate that the title unification with Sultan Ibragimov fell through, but I'll try to work that out again. Matt Skelton should not be underestimated, he is a tough fighter. In comparison to my victory against Valuev, my tactics will be very different with him."

It will be Skelton's second bout in Germany, having boxed in Bayreuth in 2003 on the undercard of Johnny Nelson's WBO cruiserweight title defence against Alexander Petkovic. "I will beat him," Skelton said. "I am always in training. When I'm not with my family, the gym is my home."

Kevin Sanders, Skelton's trainer, was also very confident. "Matt is in good shape, is super fit," he said. "We've studied Ruslan Chagaev via DVD, particularly in the fight against Valuev. He was very strong, but we are stronger and will win."