Haye vs. Valuev: This fight is a Joke
October 30th, 2009
By Chris Williams: I really hate when fighters use an end route to get a heavyweight title shot. This is what I think David Haye has done by going after World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev to fight on November 7th rather than the arguably much tougher Klitschko brothers. Haye has said that he’s moved up from the cruiserweight division to clean up the heavyweight division and save the division from boring heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers.
Haye could have fought the Klitschko brothers but he backed out of fights against both of them. Instead, we have Haye fighting another weak heavyweight. Valuev may be a champion in terms of holding a title, but I’d doubt that you could find any boxing fans or experts who feel that Valuev is any kind of real champion. As such, we have a title challenger in Haye who feel doesn’t deserve to be given a shot at against Valuev.
How Haye could be given a shot at a title over other more worth challengers like Kevin Johnson and John Ruiz is beyond me. While we’re at it, I don’t even know what Haye did to be ranked at number #4 in the World Boxing Association or number #3 in the WBO.
Certainly wins over Bonin and the 38-year-old Barrett, Haye’s only two fights at the heavyweight level, wouldn’t be enough for him to get ranked as high as he is. This kind of ranking reminds me of how Manny Pacquiao was suddenly positioned by the WBO as the number #1 challenger for welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s title just when it seemed that Cotto wasn’t going to put his WBO title on the line for his fight with Pacquiao because it was going to be held at a catch weight of 145.
Besides Haye’s undeserving credentials coming into his November 7th fight, Valuev has got to be one of the worst heavyweight champions in a long time. I know Ruiz has taken some heat for his time as a champion, but at least Ruiz knew how to fight and was capable of grinding out victories by utilizing what talent he had. Valuev hasn’t faced anyone while holding down his title except for a handful of fighters that I consider to be mediocre.
The one good fighter Valuev fought, Ruslan Chagaev, beat Valuev by a 12 round decision and took his title away from him in 2007. I see Valuev as maybe the 15th best heavyweight in the division right now, possibly even worse than that. I don’t think he should be a champion and it’s ridiculous that Haye is going after him for a title and even more ridiculous that Haye is even being given a chance at a title in the first place given his lack of quality opposition at the heavyweight level. Haye should have at least had to beat a top five heavyweight like Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter, Eddie Chambers or Chris Arreola before he was given a chance at a title.
Tags: 13 Responses to “Haye vs. Valuev: This fight is a Joke”
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there are too many governing bodies in boxing – making it too much of a free for all and lacking credibility, clearly we all know this.
there doesn’t seem to be or there just isn’t any other way to run boxing than have promoters put on shows and risk their own money doing so, this is why you get all the ‘protection’ of fighters and ‘marketability’ is the most important thing in the sport – the guys putting the show on just want to make sure people turn up and buy the pay per view etc – it’s the way it is and isn’t likely to change
haye and valuev is quite an exciting prospect as an attraction but not really as a boxing match
haye may not deserve to be in the rankings but thats the buisnes money does talk. as far as cheery pcking just look at the man hes a monster u cant cherry pick an opponent thats 7,2 and about 8 stone hevier. as far as the klits go they are the best in the division but u cant expect haye to fight them with oly monte barret as a guide to the dvision, also may i add that haye pulled out with back injury and then when setanta went dwn he pan he had no network to fight on, haye has also stated he didnt like the deals that were offerd to fight the klits on the finacial side so he gets more experiance against valuev and the if he wins he has more to bring to the negociating table
this fight is just a means to an end.
the klitschko brothers were holding haye to ransom during the contract talks and going after valuev is just hayes way of getting some of the power back.
if he holds the only belt the brothers need/want then he can use it to his advantage.
UKanSodOff – Could not agree more. Neither Klitschko brother has gone anywhere near or made any real effort, to get into the ring with Valuev that’s because for all his faults he’s still a very awkward customer to fight. As for Hayes mouth, a lot of people dislike this, but a lot of people seem to forget Ali had a mouth on him and it was far worse than Hayes – People seem to forget he called Smokin Joe an “Uncle Tom” and that I’d say is more offensive than a fake T Shirt or calling someone smelly and ugly? – Please note I’m not comparing Haye to Ali….Just their mouth size!
Do people think that Haye will be able to avoid all of the big punches from Valuev? Haye’s defence has never been great. If Valuev lands one big punch on Haye, Haye will go down. Haye cannot suddenly develop an iron chin.
I suppose that this fight will depend on who lands the big punches first. I am sure that Valuev is focused and motivated to hurt Haye for all of the trash talking he has done against him.
Money talks baaatch……….when there’s money there’s a way for the opponents to fight.
About the #4 rating at the WBA rankings, Haye wasn’t rated by the WBA at all when the negotiations started for the Valuev fight. The WBA originally stated that they would NOT sanction the bout! And a few days after they said that they turned like a leaf, rounding up with Ruiz and middle of the month released a new rating list with Haye at No 4, without Haye having boxed in 10 months! On the other hand do I think that Valuev isn’t a ‘weak’ champion, altough nowhere near the K brothers he’s not an easy target. The mentioned Ruiz for that matter was. I hope Haye loses by the way, he doesn’t deserve a title shot (yet) and isn’t ‘exiting’ as a lot of fans call it but ‘anoying’. However it turns out, I hope there will be a unification bout with one of the K brothers but I don’t think the WBA will ever allow it. Take a look at their top 10, that’s the joke!
I didn’t know it was to do with Setanta I thought it was a back injury!! Never did hear any more about that?
Win or lose against Valuev Haye is going to lose against Vitali. By KO.
Cherry picking a 23st fella with just one defeat on his record? And, if not for the Setanta debacle, we’d have seen a Haye Vs Klitschko bout.
When unified champions have stepped up a weight this status has been granted to them too-at least he looks fit!
He needs a proper confidence booster for the tasks ahead and deserves one!
I agree with the writer on this one…
I’m sorry but you can’t say fighting a boxer that’s 7’2 and 8/9 stone heavier than him, with a record of 50 wins “Cherry Picking”!!
There are questions yes about how Haye has acheived this fight, mainly with publisty rather than proven boxing skills at the heavyweight level, but uou can’t argue that fighting Valuev (in germany!) is a cherry picking!!