FanHouse Oleg Maskaev

For Oleg Maskaev to be in contention for a heavyweight world title is incredible considering the obstacles he has overcome both in and out of the ring.

There was his near-death experience as a 16-year-old coal miner in his native Zhambul, Kazakhstan, and the fact that only his budding, amateur boxing career saved the former Soviet leutenant from being sent into the war in Afganistan.

Knocked out in all of his six losses, Maskaev overcame a suspect chin to earn his biggest career wins -- two knockouts of former world champ, Hasim Rahman, with the second earning him a brief stint as WBC champion.

Maskaev says that he suffered a broken right elbow during the rematch with Rahman, an injury he endured during a subsequent win over Peter Okhello, as well as in a loss to Samuel Peter.

But now, Maskaev (36-6, 27 knockouts), who turns 41 in March, finds himself, yet again, on the verge of title contention.

For with a Dec. 11 victory over Dominican-born, Nagy Aguilera (14-2, nine KOs), Maskaev would earn a matchup with 39-year-old Ray Austin (28-4-4, 18 KOs). The winner of Maskaev-Austin positions himself for a shot at WBC king, Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs), whom Maskaev knocked out in the first round as an amateur.

FanHouse caught up recently with Maskaev, who has dual citizenship in America and the United States.

Oleg Maskaev had won two of five fights and been stopped three times when promoter, Dennis Rappaport, met him in 2002 -- not long after the 33-year-old Russian-American had suffered an eighth-round knockout loss to journeyman, Corey Sanders.

Since then, however, Maskaev is 14-1 with 10 knockouts -- a run that began with six straight KOs. The first stoppage was a one-rounder against Erroll Sadikovski in February of 2003.

"Oleg, in the ring, is now doing something that he's never done before -- and that's being relaxed," Rappaport said of Maskaev, who is coming off of a first-round knockout of Rich Boruff in March -- his second straight win since being dethroned as WBC champ a year earlier by Samuel Peter in six rounds.

"A relaxed fighter is the most dangerous fighter in the world. Oleg's boxing beautifully, he's devastating to the body," said Rappaport. "Even at his age, he's learning new things, and, more importantly, he's got the desire to continue learning."

Samuel Peter stopped Oleg Maskaev in the sixth round tonight in Cancun to win the WBC heavyweight title belt.

Peter was pummeling Maskaev with repeated shots to the head when the referee stepped in to save him with just a few seconds left in the sixth. It was an impressive showing for Peter and one that gives him a legitimate claim to the title of heavyweight champion of the word.

But Peter referred to himself as the "undisputed heavyweight champion" after the fight, and that isn't true. The generally recognized champion is Wladimir Klitschko, who beat Peter in 2005. Peter is a champion, but he most certainly is not undisputed.

Most people want to see Peter get a rematch against Klitschko, but it's more likely that Peter will get a shot at Vitali Klitschko, the brother of Wladimir. That would be a good fight, but here's to hoping it ultimately comes down to Peter vs. Wladimir to determine the one and only heavyweight champ.

Tonight's Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter fight on HBO features a pair of heavyweights that most American sports fans have never heard of. But that doesn't make it an uninteresting fight.

Maskaev and Peter are, most people would agree, two of the five best heavyweights in the world. Ring Magazine ranks Peter No. 2 and Maskaev No. 4. So the matchup is a good one.

But more significantly, the matchup is an important step toward unifying the heavyweight boxing title. The Maskaev-Peter winner will be the WBC champion. Wladimir Klitschko owns the WBO and IBF title belts, and there's a fairly good chance he can fight WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev next. If that happens, we'll have the Maskaev-Peter winner and the Klitschko-Chagaev winner as the two clear heavyweight champs. That will get us as close as we've been to having a clear champion since Lennox Lewis retired.

There is a wild card, as Klitschko's brother, Vitali, is expected to get the next chance at the Maskaev-Peter winner. If he does, we could have the two Klitschko brothers as the two heavyweight champions, which would mean no unified title because they won't fight each other.

But even if that happens, we're looking at the possibility of two or three more very good heavyweight fights taking place in 2008. If you're one of the millions of Americans who has gradually lost interest in heavyweight boxing since the days when Mike Tyson ruled the division, now would be a good time to get interested again.

We're one step closer to having a unified heavyweight boxing champion after Wladimir Klitschko defeated Sultan Ibragimov to add the WBO title belt to the IBF title belt he already owned.

And we'll get another step closer if, as expected, Klitschko next fights WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev.

But what about the fourth and final heavyweight title belt, from the WBC? That one is currently owned by Oleg Maskaev, who fights Samuel Peter in two weeks. If a Klitschko-Chagaev fight could be arranged quickly, and the winner of that one takes on the Maskaev-Peter winner, we'd have a unified title.

But it's not that simple, because there's a wild card in all of this: Klitschko's older brother, Vitali. Although Vitali hasn't fought in more than three years, there's talk that he'll make his return to the ring some time this year and take on the Maskaev-Peter winner.

That means we could be looking at Vitali Klitschko owning one heavyweight title belt and Wladimir Klitschko owning the other three. And that would set up a brother vs. brother fight for the unified heavyweight title, a fight that would be the biggest thing heavyweight boxing has seen since Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson.

Except that the fight will never happen. Both Klitschko brothers say they'll honor a vow to their mother not to fight each other. That means we boxing fans may be robbed of the fight we all really want to see. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Klitschko.

After the Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor fight last night, I was flipping through the channels and heard one of the sports talking heads describe it as something along the lines of, "a rare time when boxing actually gave us a good fight."

But that got me thinking, and looking at the schedule of upcoming fights, good fights are actually not rare at all. In fact, 2008 is shaping up to be an excellent year for boxing.

Next week we've got Wladimir Klitschko taking on Sultan Ibragimov, and while neither of those guys is the most graceful fighter you'll ever see, it's a step toward unifying the heavyweight title belts, which would be a great thing for the sport.