How Long Will Haye Last Against Vitali?

By Chris Williams: Unfortunately for David Haye, he might have lost his only chance at beating a Klitschko when he injured his back shadow boxing. Haye, 28, had little chance of beating Wladimir Klitschko, but he at least a small chance of knocking Wladimir out if the Ukrainian made the mistake of letting Haye get too close to him.

It likely wouldn’t have happened, because Wladimir never lets any of his opponents get near to him without clinching them, but there at least was a chance of a Haye victory. But now that Haye is trying to get a fight against Vitali Klitschko in September, the chances of Haye getting a win are almost zero now. Vitali is the opposite of Wladimir in the chin department.

If you need any prove, look at the huge shots that Vitali took in his fight with Corrie Sanders in Vitali’s 8th round stoppage win five years ago in April 2004. In the first two rounds, Sanders landed some monstrous left hands to the head of Vitali that did little other than knock Vitali off balance a couple of times.

In contrast, Sanders nearly decapitated Wladimir in a second round knockout in 2003, dropping Wladimir repeatedly before it was over. This is no hit on Wladimir, because any fighter would have been knocked out with the huge shots that Sanders landed against Wladimir and Vitali.

However, Vitali took the shots and gave Haye a terrible beating for seven rounds before the referee mercifully stepped in and stopped the bout in the 8th round to save Sanders from any more punishment. What we learned from this fight is that if Haye wants to beat Vitali, it won’t be by knocking him out because Vitali is incapable of being knocked out in the normal ways that fighters are. I think it’s possible to stop Vitali on cuts, but that’s about the only way he can be stopped in.

If Haye does end up fighting Vitali in September, I find it hard to see a scenario where Haye can get through four or five rounds in one piece. Haye is too nervous and chinny to last long with a sturdy heavyweight with the power that Vitali possesses.

Haye only has one gear and one way of fighting and won’t know what to do when he finds an even bigger puncher like Vitali coming right after him. This isn’t Enzo Maccarinelli, who was hurt with the first meaningful punch that Haye through.

Vitali will take Haye’s big shots and will drop some bombs on Haye that will likely have Haye dropping over and over again in the first few rounds. Although Haye hasn’t been a runner in his career, I think he’ll train for the fight with running as main goal to try and survive a little longer than he would otherwise.

It won’t work, though, because Haye’s chin is won’t be able to stand up to Vitali’s big shots, even the glancing blows will have Haye hitting the canvas. As we saw in Haye’s bout with Monte Barrett, it doesn’t take a big shot to put Haye down.

Haye was badly hurt by two left hands from Barrett and needed a lifetime before he finally got up off the deck. After Vitali starts hitting him, you can forget about Haye lasting more than handful of rounds. It took the smallish Carl Thompson only five rounds to dispatch Haye. Based on that, I’d say that Haye will be extremely lucky if he can make it to the 3rd round.

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