 At that point, it was not clear whether he would have been able to compete at all, with WBA considering a championship tournament for Chagaev's crown.After Ibragimov defended his crown against Evander Holyfield, however, it was announced that Chagaev was able to recover.Chagaev made his first official defence against Commonwealth heavyweight champion Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) on 19 January 2008 at the Burg-Waechter Castello in Düsseldorf.