It will be a big turnaround for Skelton, who will be 41 in January, because he has boxed only once in the past 16 months. That bout was a drab points win over Michael Sprott, of England, at the O2 Arena in July, a contest that, despite his win, seemed to wreck the hopes of Skelton, a former British champion, getting a world-title shot.

He had been nominated to challenge Alexander Dimitrenko, a 6ft 7in Ukrainian, for the vacant European title and had been due to have an eight-round contest on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe’s bout with Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff three weeks ago. But when the chance of facing Chagaev appeared he was withdrawn from the Cardiff bout to avoid risk of injury.

Chagaev, 29, has been inactive since beating Valuev, the 7ft Russian, on a majority points decision in Stuttgart in April. He had been due to face Sultan Ibragimov, the WBO champion, of Russia, in a title unification bout in Moscow last month but withdrew when it was discovered that he was suffering from hepatitis B, a condition from which he has recovered.

In the present generation of giant heavyweights, Chagaev, at 6ft 1in, seems a midget. When training for his bout with Valuev, his trainer, Michael Timm, would stand on a box to simulate punching upwards. But his lack of stature also makes Chagaev potentially vulnerable to the often ugly, brawling style of the 6ft 3in Skelton.

The unbeaten Chagaev does have an excellent grounding, though. He won the world amateur title at super-heavyweight in 2001 and beat Félix Savón, the great Cuban triple Olympic champion, in the heavyweight final in 1997, although he was stripped of the gold medal and banned for a year when it was discovered that he had boxed in two bouts as a professional in the United States.

Meanwhile, the next opponent for Calzaghe will be chosen from a short-list of three, with Bernard Hopkins, the legendary former world middleweight champion, the most likely option in June.

Golden Boy, Hopkins’s promoter, has made an opening offer to Frank Warren, Calzaghe’s promoter, to stage the bout in the United States, but the bid falls short of expectations, with the timing later than ideal. The bout would be at either Madison Square Garden, New York, or in Las Vegas and would be at light-heavyweight. Hopkins beat Antonio Tarver, who was recognised as the world’s No 1, last year. Against Calzaghe, as with his win over Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright in July, the only belt on the line would be the one presented to Hopkins by The Ring, the American boxing magazine.

But Calzaghe, 35, has other options. Negotiations have also taken place about an all-British bout with Clinton Woods, the IBF light-heavyweight champion, while Kelly Pavlik, the 25-year-old WBC and WBO middleweight champion, could be the most attractive choice, but he would have to win his rematch with Jermain Taylor on February 16 in Las Vegas.

“Hopkins or Pavlik would be the preferred option,” Warren said. “Because Pavlik has a fight first, we would be looking at July and we would really want a date before then.”

Calzaghe, 35, has become one of the sport’s hottest properties since unifying the world super-middleweight title with his win over Kessler, the previously unbeaten Dane. Several influential American pundits moved him into the top three in their pound-for-pound world rankings and the Welshman particularly impressed Stateside observers by standing toe-to-toe with Kessler in the final round, when he was clearly ahead, rather than playing safe.

“Golden Boy have made an offer, but we will have to see what happens,” Warren said. “They are looking at a June date, but we would want earlier as that would mean Joe had not boxed in seven months.”