World heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko will fight Ruslan Chagaev in Germany on June 20 after Briton David Haye was forced to pull out injured.

"It is sad that David cannot compete," Klitschko, the IBF, IBO and WBO champion said in a statement.

"However, I am looking into the future and forward to fighting against Ruslan. He is WBA champion, very experienced and a tough challenger."

Haye had to drop out of the scheduled fight against Klitschko due to a back injury. The Briton had hoped to put the fight back three weeks but with about 50,000 tickets already sold at the 60,000-seater Schalke 04 stadium in Gelsenkirchen, organisers were eager to find a replacement and keep the same date.

Undefeated Uzbek Chagaev is the WBA champion-in-recess. He had been due to fight Russian Nikolai Valuev in Finland for the WBA title on May 30 but the fight was called off.

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