Age No Obstacle As Skelton Goes for World Title

Matt Skelton says he is ready to upset the odds to become an unlikely WBA world heavyweight champion when he challenges Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan in Düsseldorf on January 19, eight days short of his 40th birthday.

The Bedford-based Skelton, who did not fight as a professional until he was 34 after establishing himself as a major man in kickboxing, has lost only one of his 22 professional fights and says that his hunger for success will give him victory over the 29-year-old champion, who won the title this year by outpointing the giant Russian Nikolay Valuev in Stuttgart.

"Age is just a number for me. I have always lived a life of an athlete," said Skelton. "When I left school I never started drinking, doing drugs or smoking so I have always been in shape. I believe that I am fit and ready for this test and that my age will not count against me.

"If I had got this chance when I was 27 perhaps I would not have been mentally strong enough to rise to the challenge. But now I know that I am mentally prepared for anything that will confront me.

"When I walked into my trainer Kevin Sanders' gym and he saw what I could do he said I was good enough to be at least British champion. Now I have won that title and I am the Commonwealth champion and now I am fighting for a world title. It is one of my great ambitions and dreams fulfilled. But I want to go there and win this. I know I am not Muhammad Ali and never will be but I know how to win a fight and I genuinely believe I can do this."

Sanders, whose previous fighters have included the world middleweight and super-middleweight champion Nigel Benn, said: "Chagaev has got ability. He has been the world amateur champion and he managed to win against the Beast from the East [Valuev] but I think there may be question marks against his stamina. In his previous contest he won a split decision against [the former WBA champion] John Ruiz and didn't look too comfortable in the later rounds.

"We know Matt will get no favors from the judges in Germany but our ambition will be to fight at a pace which Chagaev won't be able to sustain."

The show, staged by the German promoter Klaus Peter Kohl, with Setanta Sports broadcasting on UK television, represents a chance for Skelton, who has fought only once in the past 18 months, to make an unlikely move to the elite of a discredited heavyweight division. No dominant figure has emerged since the retirement of Lennox Lewis but victory for Skelton could lead to him becoming one of the country's highest paid fighters.

His promoter, Frank Warren, said: "Matt has never pretended to be anything he is not. He is a decent man and a committed athlete who deserves his chance. He has beaten all the best heavyweights in Britain, bar Audley Harrison, who lost to Michael Sprott and missed his chance of a Skelton fight, so his chance is well deserved.

"It is going to be absolutely vital that he jumps on Chagaev and uses all his physical advantages. Matt is the bigger man and has been throwing 200 punches a round in training so we know he is tremendously fit. I saw his last fight when he beat Sprott, who thought he would be an easy touch, but Chagaev's people have made a big mistake. Sprott never wanted to fight so it was impossible for Matt to look good."