The BoxingScene.com website said on Thursday that "Wilfried Sauerland is losing patience with the lack of progress" in the organization of the bout and WBA’s inactivity to help the talks on finalizing the bout.

"Niko [Valuev] is so confident he can avenge his only loss that he asked me to get him a rematch with Chagaev as his first fight of 2009. I was happy to accommodate his wish, but we need the help of the WBA. For reasons unknown to me, the WBA is asleep at the switch," Sauerland was quoted as saying.

Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs), dubbed the Russian Giant, lost his title bout to "White Tyson" Chagaev in April of 2007, suffering his only defeat to date. They later scheduled a rematch, first for May and then for July of 2008, but the match was put off due to an injury to Chagaev, who was declared champion in recess.

Valuev reclaimed his WBA belt in August 2008 after defeating two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, and then retained his title by beating four-time champion Evander Holyfield of the United States last December.

Sauerland said Valuev wants to have the fight with Chagaev before summer vacations begin, preferably at the end of May, but the delays are forcing him to consider fighting other opponents.

"I don’t know if it’s the WBA or Chagaev that is behind the delay, but I want Niko to fight by the end of May, and since there has been no movement with Chagaev, I have no choice left but to start looking for a different opponent for Niko. He has always been an active champion and wants to stay that way," Sauerland said.

Thirty-year-old Chagaev (25-0, 17KOs) returned to professional boxing in February to face Carl Davis Drumond (26-1, 20 KOs) in Mecklenburg, Germany. He defeated the previously unbeaten Puerto-Rican in a six round technical decision.

Following the fight with Drumond, the WBA ruled that Chagaev’s next fight must be against Valuev, but permitted the Russian to hold another bout before facing the champion in recess from Uzbekistan.

The WBA extended in March the deadline for the fight between Valuev and Chagaev from July to September, prompting criticism from Chagaev’s promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl, who wanted an earlier date.

WBA offered Valuev a choice of having a bout with four heavyweighters, including Holyfield and John Ruiz, before facing Chagaev, but the Russian Giant declined urging a rematch with the Uzbek boxer.

Valuev’s manager Boris Dimitrov said last month that the boxer had already begun practicing for the fight with Chagaev.