Illness and injury have prevented Chagaev from fighting since outpointing Matt Skelton last January in his first WBA heavyweight title defence.

A scheduled meeting against Nikolai Valuev was postponed twice, prompting the WBA to list Chagaev as "champion in recess" and allowing Valuev to become champion with victory over John Ruiz.

Chagaev’s bout against Drumond is scheduled for 7 February 2009 in Rostock, Germany.