Oleg Maskaev

Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev (Template:Langx; born 2 March 1969) is a Kazakhstani-born former professional boxer of Mordvinian origin, who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2006 to 2008. Throughout his career, he represented Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, United States and Russia.

Biography

His father is Moksha from the Zubova Polyana district of Mordovia and mother is Ukrainian from Kuban, Southern Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Amateur career

Maskayev, a former mine worker, began his boxing career in the 1980s as an amateur in his hometown Abay. In 1991 he stopped future WBC world champion Vitali Klitschko in the second round.

Maskayev was the champion of the Soviet Army and later the national cup winner. First he represented Soviet Union and subsequently Uzbekistan. Representing Uzbekistan he won a gold medal at the 1994 Asian Games.

Highlights

Template:Silver2 X Summer Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR, boxing (+91 kg), Minsk, Belarus SSR, July 1991:

• 1/2: Defeated Vitali Klitschko (Ukrainian SSR) RSC 2
• Finals: Lost to Nikolay Kulpin (Kazakh SSR)

Template:Gold1 VIII Military Spartakiad of the Friendly Armies of the Socialist Countries (+91 kg), Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary, October 1990:

• Finals: Defeated János Sulyok (Hungary) walkover

USA−USSR Middle & Heavy Duals (+91 kg), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, December 1991:

• Defeated Samson Poʻuha (United States) RSC 2

World Championships (+91 kg), Tampere, Finland May 1993:

• 1/16: Defeated Zourab Sarsania (Georgia) DQ 3
• 1/8: Defeated Oleksandr Litvin (Ukraine) RSC 2
• 1/4: Lost to Roberto Balado (Cuba) KO 3

Template:Silver2 World Cup (+91 kg), Bangkok, Thailand, June 1994:

• 1/8: Defeated Raj Kumar Sangwan (India) 11–3 (4 rds)
• 1/4: Defeated Arshak Avartakyan (Armenia) 12–6 (4 rds)
• 1/2: Defeated Willi Fischer (Germany) RSC 1
• Finals: Lost to Roberto Balado (Cuba) walkover

Template:Gold1 Asian Games (+91 kg), Hiroshima, Japan, October 1994:

• 1/2: Defeated Raj Kumar Sangwan (India) RSC 2
• Finals: Defeated Mohamed Reza Kalkh Samadi (Iran) RSC 2

Maskayev resumed the amateur career within a month after his reported professional debut in April 1993, to participate in the 1993 World Championships, '94 World Cup, and '94 Asian Games, with the last ones ended with a gold medal for him.

Maskayev finished his amateur career having 118 fights under his belt, with a stated record of 108–10. Controversy later arose as to his record, before he fought Oliver McCall, USBA stated his professional record 15–0 (12 KOs,) which was confirmed ex officio by the Virginia Boxing Commission (which sanctioned the Maskayev–McCall event and all subsequent official information related to it, including the records,) while later and supposedly more precise estimates gave 6–0 (3 KOs.) Nine missing bouts in given record were either unaccounted for (and therefore non-sanctioned events,) or considered as amateur, or exhibition fights. No data available presently for that missing part of Maskayev's early professional career.

Professional career

Maskaev's professional boxing career began in 1993. Not wasting any time, he made his professional debut against 21–0 (15) former bronze medalist Alexander Miroshnichenko. Maskaev won via third-round TKO. In only his seventh professional bout, Maskaev was faced off against Oliver McCall, who had captured a world heavyweight title by knocking out Lennox Lewis only a year before. Maskaev was caught with a hard left hand to the body, followed up with a short right hand in the first round, losing via TKO and being handed his first professional defeat. After winning his next four, Maskaev fought hard-hitting Samoan David Tua. Maskayev lost via 11th-round TKO.

Oleg is known for his powerful right-hand punch: he has knocked out former WBO heavyweight challenger Derrick Jefferson, contender Alex Stewart, and twice knocked out former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. However, he is also noted for a weak chin that was evident in his knockout losses to contenders Oliver McCall, David Tua, Kirk Johnson, Lance Whitaker, Corey Sanders and journeyman Nagy Aguilera.

His most famous victories have been his two wins over Hasim Rahman. Maskaev knocked Rahman off balance, sending his rival out of the ring in the 8th round on November 6, 1999. This fight is also notable for the famous "chair incident", in which noted referee, Steve Smoger, who was backup referee for this fight, was struck in the head by a chair thrown by a fan who was later arrested.

He later fought Rahman again and defeated him for the WBC heavyweight title by knocking him out in the 12th round on August 12, 2006. His second win over Rahman was preceded by a streak of victories that helped rejuvenate Maskaev's career and earned him the "Comeback fighter of the Year" award in The Ring magazine in 2006.

Maskaev won his first title defense against Peter Okhello on December 10, 2006 by unanimous decision.

Maskaev fought against Samuel Peter for the WBC Heavyweight title on March 8, 2008 and was doing well in the early rounds, despite Peter's repeated rabbit punching and the referee's warnings. In the 5th round Maskaev landed some of his best shots on his opponents chin, but to no avail: Peter was seemingly unaffected, visibly shaking Oleg. He lost 5 of the 6 rounds, with Peter winning by TKO with 3 seconds remaining in the sixth round.

In late 2008 he beat opponent Robert Hawkins by UD after 10 rounds and then defeated the unheralded Rich Boruff on March 14, 2009 via first-round KO, giving him mandatory contender status to the WBC Heavyweight Championship. He fought Nagy Aguilera on December 11 in Sacramento, California at the Memorial Auditorium in a tune up fight, but was knocked out in the first round. Getting stunned with an overhand right-left hook combo and knocked down soon after, another barrage by Aquilera hit Maskaev hard knocking him out. Maskaev did not land a punch in the fight, and has since stated that he may retire following the loss, however he returned to the ring 3 years after the loss, to knock out Owen Beck. In 2013, he decisioned Jason Gavern in a 10-round fight.

Nationality

Maskayev was born in Taraz, Kazakhstan (then part of the USSR) to Mordvin-Ukrainian parents and was raised in Uzbekistan. He has lived in the U.S. since 1999 with his wife, Svetlana, and four daughters. He acquired US citizenship in 2004. He currently resides in West Sacramento, California, after previously living in Staten Island, New York. Before his second encounter with Hasim Rahman in 2006, he said "I would say I'm a proud Russian-American. So right now, I'm a citizen of America, of [the] United States... Whoever is going to win is going to be American."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the run-up to his title defense against Peter Okhello, he stated regarding his citizenship: "Russian. I don't want to talk about that anymore. I will walk to the ring under the Russian flag and Russian anthem as I'm now a Russian citizen."<ref>fightnews.com Template:Webarchive</ref> Russian president Vladimir Putin granted him Russian citizenship on December 9, 2006.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
46	Template:Yes2Win	39–7	Danny Williams	UD	10	4 Nov 2013	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	38–7	Jason Gavern	UD	10	26 May 2013	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	37–7	Owen Beck	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	30 Dec 2012	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	36–7	Nagy Aguilera	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	11 Dec 2009	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	36–6	Rich Boruff	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	14 Mar 2009	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	35–6	Robert Hawkins	UD	10	6 Sep 2008	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	34–6	Samuel Peter	TKO	6 (12), Template:Small	8 Mar 2008	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	34–5	Okello Peter	UD	12	10 Dec 2006	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	33–5	Hasim Rahman	TKO	12 (12), Template:Small	12 Aug 2006	Template:Small	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	32–5	Sinan Şamil Sam	UD	12	12 Nov 2005	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	31–5	Livin Castillo	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	24 Jun 2005	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	30–5	Quinn Navarre	KO	3 (10), Template:Small	22 Jan 2005	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	29–5	David Defiagbon	Template:Abbr	10	23 Jul 2004	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	28–5	Craig Tomlinson	TKO	2 (10), Template:Small	16 Apr 2004	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	27–5	Julius Francis	TKO	2 (10)	27 Nov 2003	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	26–5	Dennis McKinney	TKO	1 (10)	25 Sep 2003	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	25–5	Sedreck Fields	TKO	9 (10)	6 Sep 2003	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	24–5	Gary Winmon	TKO	1 (8)	28 Jun 2003	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	23–5	Errol Sadikovski	TKO	1 (10)	15 Feb 2003	Template:Small
27	Template:No2Loss	22–5	Corey Sanders	TKO	8 (10), Template:Small	17 Mar 2002	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	22–4	David Vedder	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	30 Nov 2001	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	21–4	Brian Nix	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	25 Aug 2001	Template:Small
24	Template:No2Loss	20–4	Lance Whitaker	KO	2 (12), Template:Small	10 Mar 2001	Template:Small	Template:Small
23	Template:No2Loss	20–3	Kirk Johnson	KO	4 (12), Template:Small	7 Oct 2000	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–2	Derrick Jefferson	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	20 May 2000	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	19–2	Sedreck Fields	Template:Abbr	7 (10), Template:Small	2 Mar 2000	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	18–2	Hasim Rahman	KO	8 (10), Template:Small	6 Nov 1999	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	17–2	Shane Sutcliffe	TKO	2 (12), Template:Small	20 May 1999	Template:Small	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	16–2	Jeff Wooden	TKO	3 (12), Template:Small	4 Feb 1999	Template:Small	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	15–2	Marion Wilson	UD	8	8 Dec 1998	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	14–2	Toakipa Tasefa	KO	1 (12), Template:Small	2 Oct 1998	Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	13–2	Courage Tshabalala	KO	9 (10), Template:Small	9 Jun 1998	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	12–2	Booker T Word	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	9 Jan 1998	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	11–2	Alex Stewart	TKO	7 (10)	27 Sep 1997	Template:Small
12	Template:No2Loss	10–2	David Tua	TKO	11 (12), Template:Small	5 Apr 1997	Template:Small	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–1	Rodney Blount	KO	2 (6), Template:Small	7 Feb 1997	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–1	Ralph West	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	12 Sep 1996	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	8–1	Fernely Feliz	UD	8	20 Aug 1996	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–1	Mike Robinson	TKO	7 (8), Template:Small	9 Jun 1996	Template:Small
7	Template:No2Loss	6–1	Oliver McCall	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	24 Feb 1996	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Nikolay Kulpin	UD	12	29 Sep 1995	Template:Small	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Joe Thomas	Template:Abbr	6	25 Aug 1995	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Robert Hawkins	Template:Abbr	4 (6), Template:Small	30 Jun 1995	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Mike Whitfield	Template:Abbr	8	11 Apr 1995	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Jimmy Harrison	TKO	4 (6)	4 Mar 1995	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Alexander Miroshnichenko	Template:Abbr	3 (6)	17 Apr 1993	Template:Small

External links

• Template:Boxrec
• BoxingRecords