By Jake Donovan

An assortment of belts will be on the line for this weekend’s overseas battle between top heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev (Saturday, ESPN Classic, 5PM ET), including the vacant lineal heavyweight championship.

One belt that will not change hands, regardless of the fight’s outcome, is the WBA’s trinket.

Rumors of the Venezuela-based alphabet organization agreeing to sanction Saturday’s heavyweight match were denied through a statement released to the media Friday afternoon.

“Please be informed that the WBA will not complete its review of either the matter relating to the cancelled Helsinki heavyweight title fight bout or the recent Chagaev special permit request until 21 June 2009,” states legal director Robert Mack. “(N)or has it sanctioned any heavyweight title unification bout.”

The crux of the letter was to inform all that the WBA is still discussing the status of their own splintered title, with both Ruslan Chagaev (25-0-1, 17KO) and Nikolai Valuev (50-1, 34KO) recognized as their champions. Valuev is recognized as the WBA’s “regular” champion, while Chagaev’s all too frequent trips to the injured reserved list left the undefeated southpaw with the designation of “champion in recess.”

It was hoped that the two would settle all differences in the ring, as May 30 was the latest date for their oft-postponed rematch, to be held in Helsinki, Finland. The bout was scrapped at the eleventh hour after Finnish officials expressed concern over Chagaev’s medical reports revealing a low Hepatitis B viral load. Apparently, it wasn’t low enough for the commission to cancel the fight and the show altogether.

There has been much debate in the ensuing weeks over the exact reason why the fight was canceled. Chagaev’s team insisted that their guy was ready to go, and that it was Valuev’s camp that panicked and pulled out of the fight.

Team Valuev has maintained that their actions were based on medical advice given to them.
“Our top priority is Nikolai's health and it could not be guaranteed," was their statement at the time of the rematch that never was.

Chagaev won the WBA heavyweight belt in April 2007 with a well-deserved decision over Valuev, becoming the first to defeat the 7’2” Russian and leaving him three wins short of matching Rocky Marciano’s mark of 49-0.

The two were to rematch in July 2008, only for Chagaev to pull out due to injury. It was the second time in less than a year that the Uzbekistan southpaw withdrew from a major fight, having reneged on a promised alphabet unification match with then-undefeated titlist Sultan Ibragimov in October 2007.

When last summer’s rematch fell through, Chagaev – who to that point had only defended his belt once in 15 months – was demoted to “champion in recess.” The move allowed Valuev to fight for the vacant regular title, which he won in his August 2008 rematch with John Ruiz, the man whom he defeated 2½ years prior for the very same title.

Everything appeared set last month for Chagaev-Valuev II, which was to serve as the first ever heavyweight title fight to take place in Finland. However, the late cancellation denied the nation its slice of history, and the fighters the chance to settle their score in the ring.

Chagaev’s insistence that he was willing to fight is supported by his availability for this weekend’s clash with Klitschko in Gelsenkirchen, Germany this weekend. The opportunity came after brash former cruiserweight king David Haye was forced to withdraw due to a back injury suffered in training camp.

Ever since the announcement of the replacement bout, there has been much speculation as to which belts will in fact be at stake. Klitschko owns three baubles – the IBF, WBO and the less significant IBO. Given that the two fighters are regarded by most boxing experts as among the best three heavyweights in the world, the majority of the industry will embrace the winner as the division’s first lineal champion since Lennox Lewis retired more than five years ago.

For the past few weeks, it was believed that whatever version of the WBA title held by Chagaev would also be thrown into the mix. It is now clear that win, lose or draw, he will still leave the ring with the belt around his waist.

Whether or not the WBA still allows it to remain in his possession beyond June 21 is another matter altogether.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .