RUSLAN CHAGAEV W Tech. dec 6 CARL DAVIS DRUMOND

I wondered what Ruslan Chagaev was doing when he argued with the ringside doctor to be allowed to continue his heavyweight fight with Carl Davis Drumond on Saturday. It was after the fifth round, Chagaev was badly cut over the left eye from a clash of heads and his corner must have known he was in front. Why, I wondered, didn’t Chagaev or the corner simply indicate to the doctor that the cut was a concern? The doctor would then, almost certainly have recommended to the referee that the fight be stopped, the fight would have gone to the scorecards and Chagaev would have had a technical decision win.

OK, Chagaev still got the win, but he gave Drumond a chance to get lucky, as they say. I thought that the underdog challenger from Costa Rica had a good round in the sixth, when he let some heavy shots go although he also got hit by some southpaw left hands. Chagaev’s cut seemed to have worsened — or maybe it was a second cut that seemed to increase the gory effect.

So, after six rounds, the fight went to the scorecards after all, with Chagaev winning unanimously: 58-56, 58-56 and a surprising 60-54.

Chagaev was obviously disappointed at the way it ended. Clearly, he wanted to knock Drumond out. I do admire that sort of attitude in a fighter but he put himself in a risky situation. He was handicapped by the blood flowing from his cuts, and Drumond would have surely have gained confidence from his opponent’s predicament.

All was well that ended well, sort of. Chagaev got cut, which is never a good thing, he looked slow and ordinary, and Drumond was able to hit him quite easily whenever the Costa Rican opened up — which, luckily for Chagaev, was not too often.

While Chagaev forced the fight and landed some solid left hands from his southpaw stance, the previously unbeaten Drumond showed improved boxing skills from when I last saw him a couple of years ago. He has obviously worked hard on his technique, under the direction of trainer John David Jackson.

What I think Drumond lacked was the self-belief he needed. He allowed the much more experienced Uzbekistan fighter to impose his will and basically bully him out of the fight in most of the rounds. Drumond did, though, show flashes of excellent hand speed, and his right uppercut was a threat to Chagaev. I am sure that the Universum people breathed a collective sigh of relief when the fight was over.

Now Chagaev will go on to meet Nikolai Valuev for the WBA title — currently the organisation has two heavyweight champions, with Chagaev the “champion in recess” after a year’s layoff caused by an achilles tendon injury. Perhaps Chagaev struggled a bit because of his inactivity, but this was not the sort of performance that inspires huge confidence in his ability to repeat his previous win over Valuev.