Meehan ends run of title shots for Aussies with loss to Chagaev
Almost two years worth of ring rust proved too big a hurdle for Australian boxer Kali Meehan, as he suffered an honourable unanimous points loss to former WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in a WBA heavyweight eliminator in Rostock, Germany to round out a very memorable week for Australian fight fans.
Australian Daniel Dawson was stopped in ten rounds in his world title shot against WBO light-middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk before leading Australian fighters Michael Katsidis and Vic Darchinyan scored victories over Kevin Mitchell and Eric Barcelona in their respective world title fights.
Fighting for the first time in 21 months, 40-year-old Meehan performed credibly but didn't have sufficient gas in the tank to sustain pressure on his younger opponent. Chagaev, 31, earned the judges' favour by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 117-112.
Southpaw Chagaev, who was born in Uzbekistan but now lives in Germany, earned a mandatory shot against Britain's current WBA champion David Haye. He improved his professional record to 26-1-1 (17 KOs) while Meehan's log dropped to 35-4 (29 KOs).
Meehan, who was 11-centimetres taller than his opponent, caught Chagaev with several solid right-hand shots, especially in the seventh round. However for the most part, Chagaev bossed the bout by backing up the Australian and peppering him with left-hand power punches.
"I did train hard and you bring your best out in the ring, but it wasn't good enough because of inactivity, whereas if you have a bit more activity it would have helped. It was (former heavyweight world champion) Mike Tyson who said inactivity kills a fighter." Meehan said
"Physically it was really hard to and I went back at the wrong times which gave him a chance to get on top of me. There was a few times I had him hurt, I think at the end of the seventh round... I tried to jump on him the next round and I was just flat. I wasn't unfit, I trained really hard."
Managerial issues have stalled the professional career of the amiable 196cm giant from the Central Coast in New South Wales. Coming into the fight, Meehan had fought only four times in the last three-and-a-half years. Signed to the Don King promotional stable, Meehan said he hadn't spoken at length to the influential promoter following the Chagaev fight, but had implored the American powerbroker to find him more regular work.
Despite his latest loss, Meehan hoped he would still get another chance down the line to contend for a world title. Meehan temporarily shot to stardom in the US when dropped a controversial split points decision to then WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster in Las Vegas in September 2004. Due to his admirable performance, Meehan earned an world title eliminator which he lost to former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman in New York two months later.