Calzaghe comments on Haye-Valuev, Cotto-Pacquiao and Mayweather

By Scott Gilfoid: Former World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe had a few thoughts on the dull bout between WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and British heavyweight David Haye, saying in the Southwalesargus “I don’t think you can really blame Haye [for the boring fight] for that. Valuev is absolutely awful, a poor fighter and a very poor champion.” I agree that Valuev was a horrible champion, because that’s pretty much already been established. However, I don’t agree on giving Haye a free pass on why their fight ended up to be so boring. Haye threw only a small number of punches per round, little over 10, which is pretty pathetic for a top heavyweight contender.

Yeah, I know the excuses on Haye’s part – his hurt hand, his small size and all that blather. However, I expected a lot more from a fighter that was supposed to be breathing new blood into the heavyweight division and who is seen as the savior of the division. If you were to substitute either of the Klitschko brothers in with Valuev, do you really think they would have thrown so few punches? And also do you really think that Valuev would have gotten out of the fight in one piece?

Against either of the Klitschko brothers, Valuev would have been under a constant rain of fire and would have taken a terrible beating. No way would he have made it out of the fight in one piece. It would have been over very early. The Klitschko brothers are just one example. If you had put in a top contender like Odlanier Solis or even Alexander Povetkin with Valuev, my guess is that you would have seen a much more exciting fight. Those fighters tend to bring and aren’t as shy about getting hit as Haye. So I don’t see the Valuev-Haye bout being a dull fight strictly because of Valuev. Believe me, Haye had a huge part in the fight being boring. If he wanted to liven things up, he should have stuck his neck out and went toe-to-toe with Valuev for the full 12 rounds instead of throwing pot shots all night long.

Calzaghe calls Haye’s win a “brilliant achievement.” Oh brother. Haye beats an aging paper champion and all of a sudden boxing fans are supposed to see this some great fight. Come on, let’s be real about this. How can the fight be a great achievement if Calzaghe himself says that Valuev is a “poor champion”? I don’t get it. Haye moves up to the cruiserweight division, skips over top contenders like Kevin Johnson, Solis, and Povetkin, and then gets a shot against the WBA champion Valuev after facing only one heavyweight – 38-year-old Monte Barrett – and this is supposed to be a great achievement?

Dude, Haye fought Valuev, not the Klitschko brothers or one of the tough top contenders. Valuev almost lost to 46-year-old Evander Holyfield in December 2008, does that say anything about Valuev? I saw the Holyfield fight and I think he did a lot better in that fight against Valuev than Haye did. Great achievement, eh?

As for Haye’s next opponent John Ruiz, Calzaghe has this to say about him: “The guy [Ruiz] is made for his style and he’ll knock him out pretty convincingly.” I doubt it. For Haye to knock out Ruiz, Haye would have to really bring it, would have to throw a lot more than 10 punches per round and would have to expose his tender chin to the shots from Ruiz.

If Haye goes for a knockout early against Ruiz, I predict that Haye will be the one that ends up getting knocked out. I think Calzaghe hasn’t seen enough of Ruiz to comment on him. No way will Haye knock him out. Haye might be able to win a decision if he pot shots and runs all night like he did against Valuev. However, Haye won’t win any new boxing fans in the United States if he continues to fight like this. Ruiz can be beaten with movement, but Haye sure won’t beat him by trying to knock him out. If he tries that, Haye will be stopped. That’s my prediction.

Calzaghe is less optimistic about Haye’s chances against the Klitschko brothers, saying “That’s a different story, because they are huge guys who can fight. But David has every chance.” Yeah, Haye has about as much chance to beat them as he does to win the lottery. The more and more think about this, I doubt Haye will fight either of them in 2010. My guess is Haye will try to milk his heavyweight title and take on fighters that he feels he can beat. If he fights either of the Klitschko brothers, Haye will end up losing his title, get knocked out and have to start all over again from scratch.

Actually, that’s a good thing because Haye then would have the opportunity to prove that he can beat the top contenders in the heavyweight division. I’d like to think that Haye would then work his way into another title shot by fighting the likes of Solis, Johnson, Eddie Chambers and Povetkin, but I doubt he will. I see Haye taking on 2nd tier heavyweights until he’s given another title shot by the Klitschko brothers.

About the Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto fight, Calzaghe says “Pacquiao’s fight on the other hand was absolutely stunning to watch…I am so impressed with him [Pacquiao], he just gets better and better.” It was a good fight, although not exactly a great one because it was so one-sided for the most part.

Speaking of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Calzaghe says “If Mayweather doesn’t fight him [Pacquiao] because of money issues, he should just retire. Unless he’s going to fight the best, why bother?” Unfortunately, Mayweather sees himself as a business man and is more focused on making money. He’ll do whatever he wants and still end up making cash regardless of whether the fight with Pacquiao happens. It is curious that Calzaghe would mention about fighting the best, because Calzaghe has few notable wins during his pro career.

Oh, Calzaghe may have been fighting the best in his division, but he didn’t take on any of the more dangerous fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. until they were near or over 40-years-old. The super middleweight division was arguably very poor during the years that Calzaghe held the WBO super middleweight title, and when it recently improved immensely with the addition of Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, and Jermain Taylor, Calzaghe suddenly retired. You would have liked to have seen Calzaghe fighting the likes of Ward, Dirrell, Lucian Bute, Taylor and Chad Dawson before retiring rather than Peter Manfredo Jr., Sakio Bika, Evans Ashira and Mario Veit in the last years of Calzaghe’s boxing career, wouldn’t you?

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