Well, the Cold War is over and it's not that Americans have lost a grasp on boxing; it's that the better schooled and prepared fighters across the globe have come in and shown that hard work creates champions.

Since the takeover is going to last for a while, you as boxing fans might as well get acquainted with the fighters and learn how to pronounce their names and learn exactly what type of fighters they are.

There is a hot prospect coming up through the European ranks and will be fighting in a big time fight soon.

So without further ado I introduce you to Ruslan Chagaev (Ruse-lon Ch-guy-ev). He has been labeled, "The White Mike Tyson."

The basic information on Chagaev is that he is a 27-year-old southpaw who stands roughly 6-1 and is a little stocky, but ever so powerful. Chagaev reigns from Uzbekistan, which is part of the former Soviet Union, but in all reality Chagaev is Asian; since Uzbekistan is apart of the Asian continent and in the past boxing purists have bitched that he is classified as European when the truth is technically he's the best Asian heavyweight out there.

With that little bit of trivia out of the way, Chagaev entered the professional ranks way back in 1997 at the tender age of 18, but this point will come into play in a little bit. Chagaev is an accomplished amateur, which is where Americans have lost their dominance in the sport, and all these quality foreign fighters honed their skills.

Chagaev's personal accomplishments in the amateur ranks are incredibly impressive and he is rivaled only by the Cubans Teofilo Stevenson, Roberto Balado, Felix Savon, and Russian stud Alexander Povetkin. To be mentioned in the same breath as these great fighters means there is some substance to the hype I'm about to bestow upon Chagaev.

Let me give you a foundation to build on. Chagaev's overall amateur record was 82-4 with Luan Krasniqi giving him his first loss back in 1996, when Chagaev was 17, and later in that year he lost to Cuban heavyweight Yurkis Sterlin. After his losses in 1996, Chagaev went on a three-year winning streak until he lost to Cuban legend Felix Savon in the semi-finals of the 1999 world championships.

Chagaev's final loss came to Vladimir Chanturia in an upset at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Chagaev went on to win the 2001 world amateur title by defeating current Ukrainian heavyweight Alexei Mazikin, Chagaev's second world title, but it was the only one that truly counted because Chagaev was stripped of his 1997 title when it was discovered that he had fought two professional bouts.

Like I said earlier, remember those fights because Chagaev shouldn't have been allowed to fight in the amateurs again, but the rumor is that very dubious influential countrymen of Chagaev's, Gafur Rakhimov, brokered a deal with the AIBA to let Chagaev continue if they changed the bouts to exhibitions.

But those two fights still count on Chagaev's record to this day. Ruslan went 2-1 against Felix Savon in the amateur ranks, only losing to him via a disqualification, but because of his premature exploits as a professional, Chagaev's 1997 world title victory over Savon was changed to a NC.

Overall a lot has been expected of this talented pugilist, based on his amateur background, and to date Chagaev hasn't let anyone down. 

Chagaev was a successful amateur, so what, Michael Bentt had an amazing amateur career and he barely saw success at the professional level besides stunning Tommy Morrison and becoming a lesser version of a champion. 

Now it's time to learn about Chagaev's style. Ruslan is a counter-puncher by nature. From time to time Chagaev will pressure an opponent into a fight, but that is usually when they are hurt or he has them against the ropes. For the most part Chagaev will plod in and feint trying to get his opponent to open up and then Chagaev will try to counter with a combination from body to head.

Even though Chagaev isn't all that tall for a heavyweight, he tends to fight on the outside, which could be due to him having a eye problem. Chagaev seemingly doesn't have the best peripheral vision, rumor has it that Chagaev doesn't see well in the southern hemisphere of his vision, and he tends to be susceptible to uppercuts. This weakness can be covered up adequately by not fighting on the inside when it doesn't best serve him. To compensate, Chagaev sits on the outside with poor footwork, but a high guard and decent head movement so the taller lankier fighters can't pick him off with their jab, Chagaev can go in and out and not be too worried. Even on the inside Chagaev can mask any weakness by the fact that his chin is phenomenal.

Chagaev had a huge fight earlier this year with Vladimir Virchis, who is the hardest puncher in the division and, yes that respectively includes the likes of Samuel Peter, Wladimir Klitschko, Lamon Brewster, and Shannon Briggs. Virchis caught Chagaev on several occasions with some big shots and Chagaev seemingly wasn't even fazed. As for Chagaev's power, he is up there with the second tier punchers like Oleg Platov, Sergei Liakhovich, and Oleg Maskaev. Chagaev actually may have a little more power than the men he was grouped with, but that's elementary. Chagaev's ability to be out-boxed is a problem, but it's not that severe of a hindrance to him because he isn't a bad boxer and can turn things around with his power.

Yes,I know I have neglected to give you Chagaev's professional record. Well, I did that so you wouldn't take the lazy way out and go to Boxrec.com, check it out yourself, and get a false sense of who Ruslan Chagaev is as a fighter.

Well Chagaev's ecord is 21-0-1 17 KOs. The lone draw on Chagaev's record was a result of his first bout with The All-American club-fighter, I mean prizefighter, Rob Calloway, who was well down Queer Street when he stumbled into Chagaev and butted heads causing a gory gash on Calloway's head. That incident was truly a blessing for Calloway, but that action didn't knock any sense into Calloway's head because earlier this year they had a rematch and Chagaev leveled Calloway with a monstrous left in the second round.

Chagaev has wins over typical Euro journeymen, Alexei Varakin and Sedreck Fields, and decent wins over solid fighters like Zakeem Graham, who fights another quality prospect Derrick Rossy next week, and Brit toughman Mark Krence. 

Chagaev's top two wins are his most recent. Just back in July, he took on much underrated British heavyweight Michael Sprott, who was coming off a controversial loss to Virchis in December of '05 and was ready to grasp more respect by knocking off undefeated Ruslan Chagaev. Sprott was out-maneuvered by Chagaev and Sprott ended up eating big shots and body blows for several rounds. Without really making a solid stand, Sprott was dispatched by Chagaev in the eighth round. 

The biggest fight to date for Chagaev was his March contest with fellow undefeated slugger Virchis. Let me describe Virchis to you: think of Earnie Shavers but with a little less boxing skills, much better chin, and just about equal power. That right there is exactly what Chagaev saw in his fight with Virchis. Both men respected the other's power and the fight got off to a slow start. As the rounds went by, the pace picked up, and it was pressed by Virchis. That was fine with Chagaev as Virchis is slow and Chagaev found a home for his counters.

Both men landed huge shots and neither stumbled. It was a decent fight between two top 10 red heavyweights (WBO) and it also displayed the weaknesses of both men. Chagaev walked away with the majority decision, but it was Virchis who walked away as the favorite fighter in Universum's stable.

Virchis is actually now under contract with Universum's sister company, Spotlight Boxing, but basically they are one in the same. And if you haven't heard of Universum or Spotlight boxing, they are the European equivalent of Bob Arum with Wilfried Sauerland and Sauerland Events being the Don King of that region. 

Even though Chagaev bested Virchis, it was Virchis who got his crack at the European title. Virchis cracked Italian Paolo Vidoz in two and gave further validity to Chagaev's victory over Virchis. Chagaev isn't as marketable as Virchis is due to his size and background, so instead of the big money fight with Vidoz, Chagaev got Michael Sprott. 

Chagaev is rumored to be fighting John Ruiz in an eliminator bout for the WBA heavyweight title and with Ruiz recently signing with Sauerland, that fight seems more feasible than before. You see Universum and Sauerland have no problem working together and pitting their top fighters against one another; Arum, King, Shaw, and all other American promoters should take note. 

It will only be a matter of time before he crashes into our living rooms on a HBO or Showtime event. So with these tidbits of information, you can sound like a schooled boxing scholar when your friends ask who this Chagaev guy is. And you will start from the beginning and blow them away with your infinite knowledge.

Keep an eye out for Chagaev, and I will keep an eye out for more little known talent.