Skelton to face Chagaev for WBA heavyweight title

London, England (Sports Network) - Ruslan Chagaev will defend his WBA heavyweight title on January 19 by facing Matt Skelton in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Skelton's promoter, Frank Warren, made the announcement Thursday.
The 40-year-old Skelton, a native of Bedford, Bedfordshire in the UK, is 21-1 with 18 knockouts and has won his last three fights. He beat Michael Sprott in July in a majority decision for the British heavyweight title.
Chagaev, who is 23-0-1 with 17 KOs, won the title with a 12-round majority decision over Nikolay Valuev on April 14.
Chagaev was ruled out of a fight with WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov for October 13 due to hepatitis. Evander Holyfield replaced Chagaev and lost a 12- round unanimous decision.