Skelton, who insists he hits the big four-o on January 23 despite stories often claiming he’s a year older, takes on the formidable Uzbek boxer who goes by the nickname White Tyson.

And he has promised the scrap in Dusseldorf, Germany, will put him back in the public eye after his laboured battle with Michael Sprott last year.

Skelton said: "I need to take away what Chagaev brings to the table. I need to nullify his threat, out-work him and intensify my work-rate.

"He’s a clever fighter who models himself on Tyson and doesn’t waste a lot, but I’ve seen the tapes and he’s beatable.

"He’ll come to fight - he has a lot of boxing spirit.

"I can stop him but that’s not a must to beat him."

Former kickboxing champion Skelton is amazed that his shot at the world crown has come so quickly.

He said: "After the Sprott fight it’s hard to believe I’m fighting for a world title because there was never any talk of it.

"I wanted to put my name in for the European titles because if you look at boxing the progression is British, Commonwealth and European, and then you get into world status.

"I know you get judged on your last performance but previous to that I had some tough fights.

"It was a case that me and Michael had fought before and we just nullified each other."

Skelton will have to be at his best if he is to have any chance of beating Chagaev, who saw off Sprott in July 2006.

The Uzbek showed what he was capable of when he beat Cuban legend Felix Savon in the final of the 1997 World Championships ... he was subsequently stripped of the medal after it emerged he had had two professional fights.

He beat Nicolay Valuev in Stuttgart last April, having seen off John Ruiz in a title eliminator. Chagaev, 29, was scheduled to fight Sultan Ibragimov in a unification bout last October but was diagnosed with Hepatitis B and has not been in the ring since he beat Valuev.


Skelton accepts there’s a chance Chagaev sees him as an easy opponent, but the Brit reckons he has the ability to cause an upset.

He said: "Contrary to popular belief I’m not going to take this fight and then go and put my feet up in the Bahamas. Financially, it’s not that type of a fight.

"I know I need to win this to get myself back up there in the earnings as well as the public eye. It is a big fight for me." Clearly, life begins at 40.