The man pedalling the bicycle is hard to ignore: six foot three, 238 pounds, with a physique as hard as the asphalt beneath his wheels.

One mile ... two miles ... three miles ... yet few along the way recognize this pale rider. Not that it bothers Oleg Maskaev.

``I'm not going to step outside and shout, `Hey everybody, I'm the champion,''' Maskaev says. ``A couple of my neighbours know. That's good enough.''

Who's to argue? The 37-year-old Maskaev, who captured the WBC title last month with a 12th-round knockout of Hasim Rahman, is living mostly anonymously in the United States, 15 years after his first taste of American life left him eager to make sure that this land was his land.

``When I came for the first time to the United States, what I saw was the people had everything in life,'' recalled Maskaev, who arrived in 1991 as part of an amateur boxing team from the old Soviet Union. ``There were nice cars, good apartments, lot of food. And also, what I like, freedom. Nobody will bother you for nothing.''

Not even if you're the recently crowned heavyweight champion, improbably riding a two-wheeler for miles and miles.

The West Sacramento, Calif., neighbourhood where Maskaev now lives is a long way from his birthplace of Kazakhstan. It's even a long way from where he lived with his family until recently _ Staten Island.

Maskaev worked on the family farm as a boy, spent time labouring in the coal mines, and wound up making lieutenant in the Russian Army. Upon entering the boxing ring for the Russian Amateur Team, he eventually became a national champion.

``In the U.S.S.R., maybe 10-15 years ago, there were a lot of good amateur fighters,'' Maskaev said, his accent betraying his conversational English. The fighter, along with a big left hook, had tremendous foresight: all four heavyweight belts currently belong to boxers from the former Soviet Union.

One of them is his, along with a record of 33-5 with 26 KOs.

In 1995, Maskaev fulfilled his dream of immigrating to the United States. He was already considered an up-and-coming heavyweight, although his career would soon follow the parabolic path that became his trademark across the next decade.

Maskaev launched his career in 1993, starting with six straight wins before a first-round TKO when he was overmatched with Oliver McCall on Feb. 24, 1996. Four more wins followed before a disappointing April 1997 loss to David Tua.

His high point came two years later, when Maskaev knocked Rahman through the ropes to earn an eighth-round knockout in the midst of a 10-bout win streak. And then came the worst stretch of his career: three knockout losses between October 2000 and March 2002.

A disillusioned Maskaev wondered if this was the end. His longtime trainer did, and offered some advice: Retire.

``Mentally, I was down,'' Maskaev said. ``But I look back now, and I remember thinking, `I'm crazy about this. I can't give it up. I know myself that I have a lot left in me.'''

It was 2003, inside Brooklyn's renowned Gleason's Gym, when Maskaev's dying career was revived. Trainer Victor Valle Jr. saw something in the near-broken down fighter; he recruited promoter Dennis Rappaport, and the new Team Maskaev was founded.

``He was literally going down the boulevard of broken dreams and blighted hopes,'' said Rappaport, no stranger to a well-turned bit of boxing hype. ``This is a guy who thought he had a past, but not a future.''

Maskaev's rebirth began in February 2003 against Errol Sadikovski, a first round TKO. A succession of unknowns climbed into the ring with the hard-hitting heavyweight, and Maskaev dispatched each one: Sedreck Fields, David Defiagabon, Sinan Samil Sam.

Not Ali, Frazier or Foreman. But enough to get a shot at the heavyweight belt held by an old friend: Rahman.

``This is a steady, solid, tough guy,'' HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley said. ``People gave up on him. Then Dennis got a hold of Oleg and got him some lighter competition. That's all it takes to get back these days.''

Rahman was installed as a 3-1 favourite. Rahman, born in Baltimore, was billed as America's Last Line of Defence to keep the heavyweight belt in the United States. Maskaev, an American citizen, was a bit annoyed _ but capitalism overcame his concerns.

``This was to make attention and money,'' Maskaev said. ``That's how the business goes.''

Rahman dominated early in the fight, landing 47 per cent of his punches to just 28 per cent for Maskaev. But Maskaev was leading going into the 12th and final round, when he knocked Rahman out with 43 seconds left.

Maskaev's victory prompted an assortment of comparisons: He was the new Cinderella Man, or the star of Coming To America. HBO's Lampley, who called the fight, said the hype couldn't conceal Maskaev's shortcomings in the ring.

``There has not been any dramatic transformation,'' Lampley said. ``He maybe boxes a little more.''

And his WBC belt?

``Title belts don't mean anything,'' Lampley said. ``They're as least as much politics as performance. His people did a magnificent job of getting Rahman as an opponent.''

Maskaev did a thrilling job of dispatching him. And now he's one of the heavyweight champions. It's enough for him, and no one else's opinion matters.

The win gave the belts to an Iron Curtain Quartet: Maskaev (WBC), Wladimir Klitschko (IBF/Ukraine), Nikolay Valuev (WBA/Russia) and Sergei Liakhovich (WBO/Belarus). Maskaev is typically quick to point out his U.S. citizenship, earned two years before he became champion.

``They were trying to play the (Rahman) fight like a Cold War-time Russia-America, like the Communists were coming to conquer America, something like that,'' Maskaev said. ``I was living in America almost 12 years. First chance to become an American citizen, that's what I did.''

Lampley agrees.

``Oleg is an American through and through, lock, stock and barrel,'' he said.

Want proof? Maskaev intends to invest his earnings in real estate, and already has more than one home under construction in the West Sacramento area.

He's content in his new home, far outside the spotlight. ESPN did an interview, which Rappaport found somewhat funny since his fighter has operated beneath the media radar for years.

``The world loves a winner,'' he said.

It's barely 9 a.m. at Maskaev's new West Coast digs, and the sounds of his four daughters are audible over the phone. His future is uncertain: There are rumoured fights against Klitschko or Samuel Peter, or perhaps a return to his homeland for a December bout.

Maskaev is certain of one thing: He'll be riding his bicycle later this evening.

``Four, five miles around the neighbourhood,'' he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2007