Two ageing heavyweights who really should be happily enjoying retirement will meet in Russia on November 4th. R-Sport reports how Oleg Maskaev, the former WBC heavyweight champion, will face Britain’s Danny Williams in Krasnodar, Russia. 44-year-old Maskaev, 38-7(28) was to have faced Corey Sanders in a rematch of a 2002 meeting which was won by Sanders via 8th-round TKO, but Sanders was unable to get a visa to travel to Russia. 40-year-old Williams, who has a 44-18(33) record (having lost his last eight outings, half by stoppage) was available and has been brought in at short notice.
Maskaev, known as “The Big O,” launched his latest comeback in December of 2012, and since then he has picked up two wins (a 3rd-round TKO over Owen Beck and, last time out in May of this year, a ten-round UD over Jason Gavern). Williams should certainly have quit at least a couple of years ago (he is unable to get a licence to box in Britain), while Maskaev, also way past his best, appears to have at least something left.
Set for ten-rounds, it will be surprising if Williams – who, a long time ago, defeated Mike Tyson and challenged the mighty Vitali Klitschko for world honours – manages to stick around to the halfway point.
“Brixton Bomber” Williams was a good, maybe even very good fighter in his day. Who can forget the bite-down courage a virtually one-armed Williams showed when, suffering the pain of a dislocated shoulder, battled on and sensationally KO’d Mark Potter way back in 2000? Danny also showed heart in rising from knockdown after knockdown against the mighty Vitali Klitschko. A former British and Commonwealth champion, Williams became a household name when he became the first man to defeat the then heavily hyped Audley Harrison in 2005.
Always a fighter who experienced ups and downs, Danny has been an honest and hard working servant of boxing for well over a decade. But time should have been called on his career quite a while ago.