Matt Skelton did not try to hide his disappointment. There was a slump in his shoulders and his deep, booming voice seemed to have slipped an octave lower as he walked over to a group of friends and family standing near ring-side at the Burg-Wächter Castello. “Sorry, lads,” was all he said.

His friends rightly told him he had nothing for which to apologise. Before he challenged Ruslan Chagaev for the WBA heavyweight title on Saturday night, few gave him a chance. But Skelton really believed in himself and coming up short was not something he had expected. “I visualised myself walking out of the ring with the belt that so many great champions have held,” Skelton said. “I didn’t want to just say ‘I fought for it’, it had to be a win for me and I’m devastated.”

Chagaev, 29, from Uzbekistan, was, essentially, more skilled and better schooled. While Chagaev spent his youth in a boxing gym and won two world amateur championships - one when he was only 18 – Skelton, who says he turns 40 on Friday (most believe he is older), took up boxing in his mid-thirties. The journey had been epic, but while he may be able to match anyone for brute strength and determination, there is no substitute for skill and experience. Despite his age, Skelton is a relative novice.

“I never did think I would be a professional boxer,” Skelton said. “At 21, I first put on a pair of boxing gloves to do Thai boxing. Unfortunately, I just missed the top of the mountain. I was looking at it and wanted it so much.”

Styles make bouts and, unfortunately, Skelton does not possess much of one. Chagaev, though, seemingly lacked the ability, or will, to dominate Skelton or make it more interesting. At times Skelton tried to box at range, but had more success when he threw himself at Chagaev. He received repeated warnings from the referee and finally had a point deducted in the eighth round for holding behind the head, which he did constantly.

Chagaev’s best work came in flourishes, when he landed his southpaw left cross. In the final round, Skelton was hurt by a body punch, which Chagaev greeted with a roar of approval and a beckoning motion. The Uzbek won the unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 (twice) and 117-110, which in no way flattered him.

It had been Chagaev’s first bout since winning the title from Nikolay Valuev nine months ago. A quiet man, with no English and only basic German, he will be hard to sell on the world stage. When asked whom he would like to face next, he merely answered: “I’m not the one to ask.”

A bout of Hepatitis B - a problem Klaus-Peter Kohl, his promoter, revealed Chagaev has lived with since childhood and that could return – had prevented a unification bout against Sultan Ibragimov, the WBO champion. Now Ibragimov faces Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF champion, in New York next month and Chagaev must hope to face the winner. If not, a rematch with Valuev awaits, if Valuev can win an elimina-tor against Sergei Liakhovich next month.

Skelton would like a shot at a world title again. “The dream hasn’t died,” he said. “People are looking at my age and thinking that it won’t come around again in time for me. I’ve got to see that if it takes two years to get another chance, will I still be in the game?”

Roy Jones Jr, 39, who won world titles from middleweight to heavyweight, produced his best performance in five years to win a unanimous decision over Félix Trinidad, in New York and then said he would like to take on Joe Calzaghe. “I’ll fight anybody, anywhere, any time and if [Bernard] Hopkins-Calzaghe finishes how I think it will, I’ll even go to Wales and fight,” Jones said.

Calzaghe’s bout against Hopkins is expected to be confirmed for April 19 in Las Vegas at a press conference on Friday.

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