Wladimir: “He’s [Haye] In For a Rough Ride”
January 31st, 2009
By Jim Dower: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KOs) still hasn’t forgotten the photo that former cruiserweight champion David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) was showing to the media in which Haye was pictured holding the severed head of Wladimir. In a news conference this week, an unusually aggressive Wladimir had this to say about Haye: “Haye can say whatever he wants. I have the experience of knocking out guys who promised to turn my birthday into a funeral. His behavior is inappropriate. I will give my reply in the ring. He’s in for a rough ride.”
Up until recently, Haye had gone back and forth with both brothers, looking at one point to be in the process of facing Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s older brother. That fight was taken off the table because Vitali’s World Boxing Council (WBC) mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez didn’t want to step aside and let Vitali fight Haye first.
Due to the brother’s goal of wanting to accumulate all of the heavyweight titles at the same time, Vitali chose not to vacate his WBC heavyweight title and instead opted to take the less desirable fight against Gomez, thus freeing up Wladimir to be the one to take on Haye.
As it turns out, this actually probably works much better for Wladimir, who was originally seen by many boxing fans as wimping out and letting his brother Vitali take the fight with Haye instead of him because he was afraid of being knocked out by the powerful Haye. Now, this argument has effectively been eliminated.
Haye, 28, gave up his WBA/WBC/WBO cruiserweight titles last year in order to move up to the heavyweight division. In his first fight since giving up his cruiserweight titles, he fought Monte Barrett and stopped him in an action packed 5th round TKO in November 2008. Haye chose not to take any other fights at heavyweight besides this one, immediately going after both Klitschko brothers.
Wladimir is coming off a 7th round stoppage of Hasim Rahman in December. Wladimir has held onto the IBF heavyweight crown since stopping Chris Byrd in the 7th round in April 2006. Wladimir added a second heavyweight title, the WBO belt, in a 12-round unanimous decision over Sultan Ibragimov in February 2008.
Most people naturally assume that Wladimir, considered to be the best heavyweight in the World, should be able to beat Haye without too many problems. It’s not that Haye isn’t a skilled fighter, but it’s his lack of experience at the heavyweight level combined with his history of a weak chin and marginal boxing ability.
Haye lives and dies by his ability to knock his opponents out and isn’t particularly skilled or nearly as versatile as Wladimir, who is capable of boxing or slugging. In the true sense of the word, Wladimir is a classic boxer/puncher and one of the best in all of boxing, whereas Haye is mostly just a slugger who gets by with his fast hand speed.
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Sign the contract for god sakes.
Look,nobody including myself is sayin Haye is a terrible boxer by any means.But envoking the names of Holyfield,Marquez,Roy Jones,and the many boxers that have moved up and down in weight to fight for titles doesn’t give Haye the respect to do the same.Those boxers faught for their respect.It is very obvious in my eyes that this guy has no passion for the sport at all.He’s tryin to get his money and get out.He wasn’t gonna get it in the Cruiserweight division because it’s a useless division with subpar boxers.So Haye moves up to a division that he said was occupied by bums.So why move up then.Because it’s not filled with bums and he knows it.I wouldn’t have had a problem with Haye taking a fight with Barret if that was gonna be a starting block for him to make a move for the titles.But to say your gonna take this division with a thunder and then pick Monte Barret to fight and make it sound like he’s fighting a true Heavyweight contender is quite embarassing in my opinion.The thing that i think Haye should realize is that the strength differance that he is gonna experience moving from Mormeck to Wlad Klitschko is like night and day.Klitschko goes up against boxers with power like Haye has nearly every fight.Haye has never even been hit with a jab like Wlad’s let alone the hooks or devastating right hands.He’s gonna end up gettin himself hurt badly.But honestly its looking as if Haye’s hands are shaking to badly to sign the contract anyway.Sign it and get it done.
Just heard that there is a problem over the signing of the fight. What a surprise, now were did I hear that before!. OH yes from a post I did earlier. The Brothers are messing with Hayes head, cant think why, any body know?. Don’t hold your breath.
This could go on for ever. I have no objection to Haye fighting in what ever weight he chooses or any body else for that matter. He has a chance to KO Wladimir he packs a good punch, he excites people(not me) He gets people talking. All of that is true. BUT why has he been given a shot at the most prestigious title in the world? why do we think he is a breath of fresh air to the Division? Why are we even talking about him?
I never said he couldn’t operate at Heavy Weight or even suggested it. The list is endless of people who moved weights. Haye can do very well in the HW BUT why this sudden escalation in His world beating statues I don’t recall Joy Jones as seen as about to clean up the Division after out boxing John Ruiz Before the fight with Maccarinelli I didn’t see lights flashing and gossip galore about how he is going to take the world by storm, it was just anther fight between two champions who at the time weren’t exactly greats. They held titles but so did Rahman having Legitimately KO Lewis, don’t remember any hype about him storming the world stage.
Again I mention the opponents of Haye well past Thompson they were poor. Please somebody tell me why Haye has caught the imagination of the Public. Who did he beat who was a great man, a great fighter, an Icon to us all. He didn’t. In fact at the Moment neither has Wladimir or Vitali, having said that Vitali has been in with the best and should have got a rematch, but we wont go there.
At the shopping Mall Haye lost it for me, his mouth and rude behaviour talking to a polite, professional, Wladimir I was embarrassed to be British. Muhammed Ali started all this off and he was good at it, he was the first and last, this is just bad mouthing and gets us nowhere. I will concede that it has got Haye noticed and that’s why we are discussing the man now and that’s why he has got a shot at the title, publicity, but that doesn’t make it Legitamate. And it doesn’t make him good.
Holyfield who you mentioned had about 6 defences of his cruiser weight title and then I think 6 fights before a HW title shot. He worked his way up, he didn’t shout his way there. I will always put Holyfield at the top of the pile a true example of a Champion.
With respect to you I think you keep missing my point, Haye is good and will be Good at whatever he does but as Wladimir said at the Shopping Mall ‘I don’t know who you are, and you must join the queue’. Thats all I want him to do. Why shouldn’t he fight Arreola, Dimitrenko, or even Peter? I would like to see that and I think he would be tested and doesn’t fancy it, simple as that. I like people who have earned their place in the queue I dont believe he has. The story continues…
Doctor,
What you are suggesting is that we should never have multi weight champions.
Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard, James Toney, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez.
They’ve all moved up a division and won titles, some have moved up a few!! Were they not legitimate challengers because they didn’t operate in the higher weight class for ‘all of their careers’?
Your argument doesn’t stack up.
Roy Jones challenged John Ruiz in his first fight at heavyweight – and won. Logic would suggest that he was a legitimate challenger for that title because he pulled off the victory.
As for your comment of “he should fight at least the best the Americans can offer or the Europeans”, I’m not sure what you mean. He challenged Mormeck in front of his own crowd in Paris, who was not only European, but World Cruiserweight Champion. He’s the best that Europe had to offer in that division, other than Haye.
As for the Americans, they are just not world-level at the moment other than Cunningham and Banks (arguably) at Cruisers and Arreola (very arguably) at heavy. Haye cleaned up the cruisers and wanted to move up to heavy so there was no point hanging around for Banks or Cunningham (who has since been beaten).
The canvas thing is irrelevant. Are Thompson and Brewster tougher or more of a boxing legend than Tyson? No. But Tyson has been on the canvas a few times before. Enough said. Arreola has just been floored in his most recent fight too. Does that discredit him now? Let’s not be silly.
The fact that Haye stayed at Cruiserweight for 21 fights means nothing also. Holyfield stayed there for 18 fights. Did he not fancy facing the big boys too? Was he illegitimate as a heavy challenger?
Your arguments are based on your scepticism of Haye and his loud mouth. But the facts are that he is as legitimate a challenger as anybody else in the heavyweight division, other than perhaps Povetkin, who is due to get a shot soon anyway.
If he gets knocked out, he gets knocked out, I’m not even a Haye fan. But to say he doesn’t warrant a title shot is just ignorant in my eyes.
The same type of ignorance as not recognising fighters of the quality of Chris John at featherweight in the pound for pound list, just because he rarely fights outside of his home country. Yet a man he schooled – Juan Manuel Marquez – is ranked at number 2!!
That’s amusing.
Have a look a little bit further afield sometimes. You might enjoy it.
Well i wouldnt be so rude about it but Adam has a point.
Ive been arguing about the Hatton Pacman split, ive said Pacman deserves a bigger split but not much more because hes fighting a world champion for his belt not a nobody whose being given a chance at the big time.
Haye on the other hand has jumped the queue, hasnt really proved enough to be considered number 1 contender for the title. This really is a case of the small guy being given the big chance.
How ever he got this oppertunity is his business. It may annoy some certain boxing fans on here but its worked for him. But he should accept a fair cut of the money. Hes guna be bringin the majority of fans to the fight, generating alot of money on his own but at the end of the day the interest is some what to do with who hes fighting and what for. The number 1 heavyweight king for all his belts.
Vlad should get the lions share of this 1 no doubt.
Mark Hobbs you make good points but you don’t sway me. Yes I do believe they had more legitimacy than Haye simply because they have fought throughout that division all there careers and earned their place at the table by beating those put in front of them. They didn’t beat greats but they beat all opposition to get there. Haye hasn’t. Gomez fought and held his title at Cruiser Weight over 10 defences and has had over 10 Heavy weight fights, that’s a record and not padded. He is a legitimate contender yet nobody shouts for him Why? he doesn’t shoot his mouth off.
I don’t agree they had a padded record, neither of those men feared fighting any body including Wladimir and risk free wouldn’t get them anywhere. No they weren’t holders of championship belts, but you say the Heavy weight division is in a sorry state does that mean the Cruiser weight wasn’t?. The two divisions like all the Divisions are not in a sorry state. Haye beat two Champions who were themselves not great or any where near it. He got the job done but not against greats.
I have to add a point I have made several times and sorry for repeating it. Haye had fought crap opponents up to Thompson and beyond so in my book that makes his resume padded for some if not most of his fights. And that still stands for me now. The two Heavy weights he has fought are not credible for a shot at the titles, he should fight at least the best the Americans can offer or the Europeans.
The not touching canvas is an important point to me because much is made of Haye’s KO power, well that means somebody has to hit canvas. Men like Thompson, and Brewster had fought more fights than Haye and never went down that has to say something about them, not everything, but something, and Wladimir stopped them that says something about him.
I finish on the point you make about Legitimate. Nobody talked about Haye until he crossed over to Heavy weight Why? nobody is really interested in Cruiser Weight. Why did he stay in that division for 21 of his 23 fights? I don’t think he believed he could handle the big boys and now he does. Good for him but that doesn’t make it Legitimate. This is about money and his publicity Machine has worked wonders but that’s all it is,air.
I like the Heavy weight division and follow it world wide, Haye is not the best, but who cares, he will get a chance, and as you say a punchers chance. I would like to see a Boxer, come fighter get in there and KO or go the distance. I know Haye cant go the distance so in my book he will get KO’d.
Anyway got that of my chest have a nice day.
I watched the Maccarinelli fight and he knocked him out after Maccarinelli took dozens of Haye’s biggest punches.And that’s a cruiserweight.As for Sam Peter,he has 10 times the power of Haye.And can also take a punch 10 times better at least.Vitali outbrawled Peter,Wlad outboxed Peter.Haye doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring as either Bro.He has done nothing to warrant a title shot.But because they demand respect,Haye will be SPARKED OUT shortly.And i love how you Brits try and put up an argument for Haye,but start you posta out with”Haye will probably get knocked out,but”.That’s funny.Bottom line is that Wlad has been in the ring with punchers bigger than Haye and knocked them out.And wlad has been in the ring with boxers that are flat out better than Haye and knocked them out.Put Haye in the ring against Ray Mercer and see what happens.Put Haye in the ring with Lamon Brewster and see what happens.Or Rahman,Chris Byrd,Sam Peter,Demitrenko,or any top Heavyweight.Haye would get destroyed.Mark E,sorry,nobody in the Heavyweight division was avoiding David Haye.LMFAO!Barret was selected very carefully by his camp.And a younger Barret would prolly have beat Haye.
Doctor,
Surely you don’t class those as MORE legitimate challengers than Haye?
Who, out of that list of ‘legitimate heavyweights’, were more worthy than Haye of a shot against Wladimir?
Brewster and Thompson? Why? Because they had padded risk-free records? Were any of those two undisputed champions of another weight division? Did any of them have a decent amateur background. Had any of them beaten other champions?
The fact that neither had touched the canvas is irrelevant. Wladimir has touched the canvas plenty of times. As have Tyson, Lewis, Ali, Frazier and Louis. Are they not legitimate heavyweights because they’ve been on the floor?
There is no argument.
Yes, Haye may get sparked out by Wladimir, there’s no question about that. But he has every right to be in there with him, irrespective of what ignorant ‘fans’ from across the pond think.
The heavyweight division is in a poor state and Haye is as ‘legitimate’ a challenger as anybody else at the moment.
And he has a punchers chance, just like Brewster.
Mac incidentally isn’t a type of pasta as you have previously speculated, he is a tall hard hitting european style fighter from the Calzaghe stable much like Wlad. He is the best fighter in the cruiserweight division right now and was much better known than Haye in the uk and expected to win and move up to heavyweight. Instead he got KO’d, haye moved up to heavy and Mac is rebuilding his career.
‘took plenty of these so called Hayemakers and didn’t go down.That’s not power’ except for those five times, the last of which he didn’t get up from. Stupid comment. And incidentaly no one thinks Monte Barret is world class but at least he had the balls to fight Haye when all the other ‘top’ heavyweights were avoiding him.
Are you saying Wlad has an iron chin and that Haye couldn’t knock him down? I think youre thinking of his brother!
Wlad got knocked down by Sam Peter who has power but is as slow and lumbering as an aircraft carrier. If he couldn’t get out of the way of a punch from Peter he wont from Haye.
Youtube Haye’s fight with Maccarinelli, granted Haye looks awkward and off balance when he throws shots but my god that Hayemaker was explosive and big Mac never saw it coming.
‘took plenty of these so called Hayemakers and didn’t go down.That’s not power’ except for those five times, the last of which he didn’t get up from. Stupid comment. And incidentaly no one thinks Monte Barret is world class but at least he had the balls to fight Haye when all the other ‘top’ heavyweights were avoiding him.
Are you saying Wlad has an iron chin and that Haye couldn’t knock him down? I think youre thinking of his brother!
Wlad got knocked down by Sam Peter who has power but is as slow and lumbering as an aircraft carrier. If he couldn’t get out of the way of a punch from Peter he wont from Haye.
Youtube Haye’s fight with Maccarinelli, granted Haye looks awkward and off balance when he throws shots but my god that Hayemaker was explosive and big Mac never saw it coming.
Mac incidentally isn’t a type of pasta as you have previously speculated, he is a tall hard hitting european style fighter from the Calzaghe stable much like Wlad. He is the best fighter in the cruiserweight division right now and was much better known than Haye in the uk and expected to win and move up to heavyweight. Instead he got KO’d, haye moved up to heavy and Mac is rebuilding his career.
I said even before Haye faught Barret that Haye and his fans would try and make Barret out to be a some kinda top Heavyweight.Barret not known for his chin,took plenty of these so called Hayemakers and didn’t go down.That’s not power.A 37 year old Barret hit Haye with all sorts of punches.It will only take Wlad 1 punch.No contest.Wlad by KO round 4.Possibly round 2.
Hi Rogers21 not sure what I am supposed to have missed on the Wladimir v Barrett fight But it took place 9 years ago Barrett had 24 fights 1 loss on points and was at his peak. So I think Wladimir beat a better man than Haye met.
Mark Hobbs nice list and as you say no greats, but that does applie to Haye as well and more so, he fought and lost to an old man, who had lost 6 times before. Come on who has met a real champion? Brewster had never been stopped before he is a tough man. Thompson 1 Loss 9 Yrs ago and had never seen the canvas those are pretty good standards and entitle them to fight Wladimir, they did and lost. enough said.
This is gonna be a one sided match. WK by KO.
just so you know wlad did fight monte barrett and it took him till the 7th round to finish the fight, do your homework DOCTOR b4 you comment.
haye is getting right under the klitchroid bro’s skin and i LOVE IT.it’s about time there was some excitement in this dreary division.the last fight that stirred up the juices was lewis v tyson and that was 6 yrs ago.anyone with half a brain would want to see this fight instead of another snoozefest against yet another fat overweight,undertrained,slob of a heavyweight which have previously been spponfed to wladimir!!!
Adam,
Please tell us which of the ‘legitmate’ heavyweights that Wladimir has beaten, would beat Haye, thus preventing him from making it to his one and only payday?
Rahman, Thompson, Ibragimov, Brewster, Austin, Brock, Byrd?
Hardly great names there in his last 7 fights. In fact, who has he beaten that IS a great name?
In terms of pedigree, Haye is a worthy challenger, having cleaned up the Cruiserweights and performing better than Ibragimov in the 2001 amateur world championships.
You just discredit Haye because of your ignorance rather than any intelligent debate.
Loser.
Dam thats not what i wanted to put on this article.
Stamford Bridge doesnt hold anywhere near 100’000. About 40’000 seats + what you can get on the pitch around the ring. And nobody takes the back rows of seats when boxing is at a footy ground unless you wana watch the roof of the ring only.
Adam, I dont mind people claiming a boxer is fighting an aged past it boxer and was on for an easy night. IF, you say that before the fight. Its no good sayin the same thing about all the boxers you dont like AFTER the fight cuz we aint guna take you serious.
And it wasnt the gulf in age that beat Barrett, it was the power.
Roy Jones was past it when he faced Calzaghe yet he put him down in the 1st and stood up well for the 1st 5 rounds.
My prediction is Vlad to win in 3 rounds. Haye wont be able to swing wild cuz Vlads jab will keep him at bay then when Haye does find an opening his lack of defence and weak chin will walk into a short hook of vlad and even though he will get up the ref wont let it continue.
Im British, and i have been suprised by the lack of support from American fight fans for British boxers.
I aint been on here that long, i was hoping for none biased articles and unbiased comments but we clearly dont get it on here.
But not to be bitter im also suprised the brits respond to the biased comments by taunting the American scene. If theres ever 1 thing to not taunt its the quality of boxing that comes out of America. I believe theres still pllenty of top notch boxers in America and at any time anything up to 20 future world champions could come out of the lower levels or amateur ranks.
And to be honest i wish they would. I love boxing and quality boxing and i will happy watch it where ever it comes from.
What is Stamford Bridges capacity? I just read the article where Wlad mentioned the 100’000, i dont follow football so assumed it was similar to the Manchester stadium Hatton fought in!
Has Big Wlad been conned?????????!!!!!!!!! ha-ha
I cant see Wlad throwing his gameplan away over a picture, if the interview mentioned in this article is anyway similar (or indeed is) from the exclusive on the other website i read, then he only mentioned it because he was prompted by a question over it and answered very calmly with a smirk. He’s to smart and been around to long to allow something petty upset his style.
You call beating an aged beaten Monte Barret enough to be considered a legitimate Heavyweight?Of coarse you do,because Haye is British.If it was any other fighter you would be sayin differant.Haye has not beaten a legitimate Heavyweight in his career.And he won’t face one because he wont make it to the Klitschko’s if he did.He wouldn’t make it to his only big payday.
How angry is Vlad about that picture? angry enough to throw away the usual game plan of working behind his jab keepin his chin safe?
Haye is no doubt the underdog and there would be no suprise if he got beat. But people are claiming he has no chance at all.
I dont get how people say hes too small, cant hurt at heavyweight. Barrett was accepted as a good heavyweight and Haye beat him easy. Surely if you can easily beat a proper heavyweight who has the heavyweight size and heavyweight power and heavyweight experience you yourself can be accepted as 1.
Everybody is talking like Haye is lining up his 1st heavyweight fight. I think hes done enough already to prove hes a legitimate heavyweight in his 2 fights. Im not saying hes proven he can beat Vlad or any title holder but i dont see why hes being labelled as nothing more than a cruiser on here.
Stamford Bridge don’t hold no where near 100,000. Im a fan of Haye and I hope he does win coz he’s obviously got to the small amount of Klitschko nuthuggers out there.
OwenKORowe,did i hurt your feelings?You gonna cry?Scott D,i know Wlad isn’t racist.Did somebody ever say he was?As for me,call me what you want.Makes no differance to me.Not sure what your talkin about but cool.
First off, Wlad has agreed the fight at Stamford Bridge, in an interview for a different website, he states the fight is made because he wants the 100’000 capacity and has had good experiences in England. I agree with Owen that this is the most exciting fight in the Heavyweight for a decade, we have Hayes big mouth to thank Adam.
And to quote Wlad, when asked about fighting a fellow Ukrainian in Dimitrenko, “for me its not important that he too is Ukranian. For me, the nationality and color of the skin is not important. Im ready to fight with anyone they select to challenge for my title”. Your hero isnt racist Adam, hes an intelligent guy who just wants to fight. Take a leaf out of his book please.
you writers are so pessimistic about everything hayes doing something exiting not dodging anything hes saying i wanna be the best and i might as well find out now if im good enough which is more than most of these boxers can say. all the luck to him. and to the writers of this site maybe you should have some faith in the little guy for once
Adam I think its time you stopped writting your basically racist posts. I have reported you to the site and they are going to look into your posts as i feel you are compltely unable to write subjectively without bringing race or nationality into it.
Most other people are here for a love of the sport. Your here because there is no other satisfaction in your frankly pathetic existence.
This is all about psychology, the Brothers are playing with Haye. They have a chat together about who will fight him and where and when and then have a laugh and change it. Don’t think this is the last word on the fight. Vitali after he finishes Gomez may say NO its My fight, Every time I see him talking about Haye he smiles and looks to Wladimir. These two are very smart both in the ring and out. You don’t think they are going to risk their place in history to an upstart they don’t even have to meet for the whole of 2009. No this is a game because he bad mouthed them and they are now calling the shots. I still put my case Haye has no more right than any body else to demand a fight, in fact compared to Arreola and Dimitrenko less. My money is still On Wladimir to wear Haye down with defence and Jab. Haye couldn’t get rid of Barrett for 5 rounds imagine 5 with Wladimir. I use the example of Lamon Brewster in 2004 when he came out flying and gave everything he could, Wladimir controlled it and then hit Brewster with heavy shots none of which Haye has taken. I appreciate Wladimir lost that fight but looking at it I don’t know why, he came back and finished the job nicely by stopping Brewster something that had never been done before.My reasoning is Wladimir has beat all types of fighters many just as good as Haye. The talk is all about being mouthy. Look at the guys that took Haye into late rounds, Mormeck a little guy who had lost 3 fights before. Abdoul another little guy who had lost 9 fights before where is the real talent he has fought? He gets a lot of publicity but for the life of me I dont know why.
Haye win by k.o b4 round 7.
We have to Thank Haye for what.Wanting a payday in the Heavyweight division because he couldn’t get one in his own division?Haye is no differant than any other fighter Wlad has faced.Except he has no chin.This will be exciting only because 90% of the boxing fans wanna see this big mouth get KO’d.I can’t wait for that.
Hes going for it,he wants it badly and i know why plus he will have the opposite attitude to rahman believe me.
Dont get me wrong wlademeres really strong but hayes speed and conditioning will be the difference,hes that type of person that always rises to the occasion.
This is going to be the most exciting thing to happen to the heavy weight division for a decade.
All need to stand up and thank Haye for this. He is not messing around. He wants the best and he is going for it. Even you Americans can see that.