David Haye Vs Nikolay Valuev – The Fight That Made Fights
November 10th, 2009
By Adam Fillingham: David Haye the new WBA world heavyweight champion defeated 7ft Nikolay Valuev on Saturday to make world history in beating the tallest ever world champion, by a majority decision. What I could not understand though is how the first judge, Juan Manuel Garcia Reyes could have scored the fight 114-114.
Haye though had it all for me. His body movement, especially his head, was his top feature in this fight, his hand speed as well doing him justice. He made the slower man miss on so many occasions and then threw punches of his own in return. Haye showed he had a good boxing brain to be able to know when to mix it up and when to stay back which kept him out of trouble. This was better than the sluggish Valuev who just did the same thing over and over again. Haye’s accuracy with his punches was fantastic as well, landing way more punches than Valuev and yet throwing less. Valuev has always been renowned for his great chin and yet Haye still rocked him in the final round.
This fight is being compared on some levels to the fight between Froch and Dirrell. Froch was the aggressor in this fight and Dirrell ran for 12 rounds pot shotting Froch and yet Dirrell was ‘robbed’. How would some of the American fans go about fighting Valuev because you obversly think Haye did it wrong … 1 name springs to mind…
This fight was a fight to make fights (apologies for having the word fight three times in a sentence). If Haye defeats John Ruiz in his mandatory defence (which most people are confident of him doing) then he will be set up for fights with either of the Klitschko brothers. Either fight will be a mega money event and will make him a house hold name if he is to defeat them.
However that is the question. Will he defeat them? His hand and body speed is amazing. His power could knock out a lot of heavyweights, especially ones with a chin like Wladimir Klitschko’s. His jab is under rated and he should use it more to his advantage. And last but not least his accuracy is better than expected, especially in the Valuev fight.
All these points are well and good but the Klitschko’s are no push overs. At 6ft 6in (wladamir) and 6ft 8in (Vitali) these guys aren’t small, even compared to big Valuev. Their jabs are the best in the business and although they are boring, it works! Their hand speed is under rated and that mixed with their unbelievable power and punch output is amazing.
So for my opinion. I think Vitali Klitschko is just one too far for the Brit Haye. Although he is fast and may be able to stay away from the big man for a few rounds or so Vitali Klitschko will eventually catch up with him.
Wladimir Klitschko on the other hand could be an opponent for Haye to beat. His chin is weaker than that of his brother’s and he has that shorter reach and height for Haye to work with. I still think this fight would be 50/50 though.
So finally in conclusion I would recommend to Haye (if your reading this David) that he fights someone like Chriss Arreola, Samuel Peter or Alexander Povetkin. These fighters are all highly ranked but all flawed in some way and Haye could box rings around all three, meaning he could get valuable experience, with big names, to prepare for the Klitschkos, and we don’t have to watch one of the Klitschkos defeat them in some boring manner.
Tags: 34 Responses to “David Haye Vs Nikolay Valuev – The Fight That Made Fights”
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Haye went after the weaker of the heavywieght champs.He knew he could beat valuev very easily because he has faster hands and better defense.He pulled out of the Klitscko fights only because he reckognized that the valuev fight would be easier to get one of the titles.Everyone knew that he would win,the russian is just too big and too slow.Even holyfield beat valuev last summer,but was robbed.
Whats with the first sentence of this artical? Didn’t Chaguev make world history by beating the tallest ever world champion???
On the fight, it was just awful. Haye did enough to win but it was almost unwatchable for neutrals
Cant see any heavyweight challenging Vitali K.
i think haye won the fight but theres no difference between the haye and dirrell fights. i think dirrel got robbed.i agree that was the only way haye could win the fight but he could of bin a bit more aggresive! maybe throwing 20 shots per round instead of 10. think he would of still won but much clearer.
with all do respect to his accuracy, i dont think his head was real hard to hit did you see the size of that thing.
Wladamir klitchko sayd that first he will give (hit the Haye) Haye a Pizza Face, then He will Knock haye out in the 12th round. I beleive that.And If that is a big IF,Haye should win by a decision, Wladamir Big brother Vitaly will certenly punish him. one way or another.
In reply to coco666, if you read my article properly you would see that i said… unless Haye gets a few more fights under his belt he will loose to the Klitschko brothers. Please read my articles propperly before commenting. And i would like to here about how you belive valuev won any other round other than the ONE i gave him
.
Thanks for your comments matt w and penguin
yea your spot on all the way thu…. think hed be in trouble against the klitschos too! good article bro
What a terrible article – for Haye fans probably the best ever! For me 119-112 is a joke -big time! Adam … you are blind? According to the win over Klitshko brothers no chance…never…either of them will eat him !!!
One thing — you actually wrote ‘fight’ four times in one sentence (sorry, couldn’t resist
).
Seriously, though. Good article.
I just don’t see Haye going after weaker fighters when (because it would be a shock if he didn’t) he disposes of Ruiz. And tbh, if he chooses the hard fights, I’ll respect him for that.
I have to agree, though, that he wouldn’t beat Vitali. Wladimir, maybe, and I’d love to see that fight. But while I think Haye’s great for the division, I can’t see him ‘cleaning it up’ like he wants to.
Fletch, Johnson, Martin, Stuarty, No1JimmyWilde, jj and fightfan thanks for your comments
. Howierd, you make some good points but i’m just trying to say that if you agree with what Direll did against Froch then you must agree with what Haye did. Also Valuev was a whole foot bigger than Haye + 7 stones heavier… Dirrell was the same weight and height as Froch, meaning he is a bigger “chicken”.
My previous post is in no way meant to detract from the thoughtful, articulate and well-informed writers such as the author and others who do occasionally make themselves heard on here.
He won Howierd so get over it. Why didnt the brothers boring go after the Valuevs title? Are you trying to tell us they would of beat the big man in an in spectacular fashon? Get over it and do it fast.
Nice article. I feel this site as a whole is a joke. Howeird seems clearly to be one of this site’s notorious anti-Brit writers using a fake name. I have also heard that said writer may be the editor using a fake name to write poor articles to push up the number of hits received. Haye is clearly a fine boxer.
Certainly Haye has been a productive KO artist at his level but not in the heavies which the Valuev fight abundantly demonstrated. Haye fearfully danced about the ring whilst having previously pledged to lay his opponent down for the count with aggressive boxing which rarely materialized. Haye vowed to bring excitement to heavyweight boxing and Haye did exactly the opposite, betraying his only real goal for all to see which was to get a belt even if this meant looking like a utter craven coward in the ring against the weakest of the current heavyweight champions.
Both brothers had previously agreed to meet Haye in the ring and both times Haye flinched when it became apparent that his heavyweight career was about to be expunged by the super champs of the ring if the fight would have taken place.
Haye is good but not good enough to deal with a Klitschko this will be amply proven at a later date.
Finally to call Haye’s effort clever is being more than munificent, I would call Haye’s painful display a poorly fought bout born out of fear of getting hit from a man whose punches are not nearly in the same league as those of a Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko. Haye got his belt but he paid a substantial price in the amount of respect he abandoned to gain his title. Somehow it all fits to Haye’s character, or shall we say lack of the same.
A good one Adam. I didn’t like the way he won, and was a bit disappointed in his performance (in my book he should have jumped all over Valuev and knock him out – I tend to think in a very straight lines sometimes:)), but was still impressed in his head movement, hand speed etc. After I learned about broken hand it’s understandable for me now why he didn’t go for it in 3-5 rounds. He was saving his hand and in the last round, he let it loose to show what WOULD HAVE HAPPENED if he went for it. He most likely would of chopped the big guy and this is what I believe is going to happen if they ever fight again my friend (which I hope will not happen – just don’t make a sense financially).
Another thing is – Haye made his position 100 times better for negotiations with brothers (I still believe that his withdrawals from Klitschko fights were dictated more by idiotic contractual conditions rather then by his injuries). It’s perfect Henry Kissigner-like political move (make your position stronger before negotiation). now he will fight them for a triple-quadruple of what he’d get fighting either of them in 2009. Very, very smart move David:)
great fight to show the different opinions people have when judging a fight, including judges, they are all individual and look for slightly different things.
Haye feels he more than ready now for anybody, he will train for each specific boxer but wont think he needs experience before taking on the best.
howierd, by throwing a jab and straight hand jab and sraight right hand aint at all entertaining, wladamir wont get into a fight cos hes very chinny, i think haye has done exactly what he was trying to do by getting people talking about the heavyweight division.
totaly agree! i hope haye does go for another 2/3 fights after ruiz before going after the klitchkos! he is still a baby in the heavyweight devision! i also hope to see him fight beyond the age of 31 as most modern day heavyweights dont seem to peak until 30 onwards! good article and refreshing to read after the bias nonsense from some of the other “writers” on this site!
I think haye showed he has good power at the weight and looked to have good speed and movement. I thought he’d struggle personally, and am glad to be proven wrong.
I think he’d give vitali a good fight personally.
Howierd your comments sound you may be Gilfoid in disguise.
If you’d followed Haye’s career you would also know that Haye has 21 KO’S from 24 fights.
Any boxing fan that recognises boxing talent and intelligence will support David Haye.
Howeird – You say the brothers make a habbit of winning by ko’s?? Dont you think David Haye does you prat!?!? Have you not see his record??? At least he got in the ring with Valuev unlike your beloved brothers
I wish Scott Gilfoid wrote decent articles like this, this is a very good one.
I would like to see Haye make a few defences of his title 1st before he moves on to the K bro’s. Fights like Arreola, Tua, Ruiz, Chagaev, and Johnson.
The problem is the age of the Klitschko brothers. If he does these fights they may have retired by then and Haye will be accussed of dodging them and only be a paper champion. But he’s too raw at heavyweight to beat them, they’re in a different league to everyone else in the division.
I too scored a wide margin to Haye and couldn’t understand why the Sky Commentary team had it so much closer – Valuev only landed punches in a few rounds and Haye landed in every round albeit infrequently. If I was in Valuev’s camp I would have pushed him to close Haye down more effectively and to clinch and lesan on Haye after each exchange of blows to wear Haye out.
It’s a short and risky career in boxing – Haye should make the mandatory defence against Ruiz, then focus on Wladmir and then take on Vitali. I don’t see Haye fighting beyond 3 more years and therefore he needs to take the big fights now. Vitali is probably the most difficult fight for Haye, but the bigger Klitschko is not getting any younger and if Haye maintains his current momentum he will have an excellent chance when the time comes.
Unfortunately there are no Heavyweight boxers in the US currently that have the talent or marketability for Haye to waste time on other than to make his mandatory obligation with Ruiz.
Hey should avoid the kilts for a bit… he should fight ruiz like he has to then fight james toney and arreola.. then go after wladimir hopefully by then vitali would have lost a step or two.. cos i agree totally he aint got much chance against vitali
i agree with the fighting other apponants first. it would boost him confidence and prepare him better. also it will give him more credibility with all the doupters mainly stateside.
HOWIERD THERE IS A DIFFRENCE BETWEEN RUNNING AND BOXING CLEVER AND HAYE BOXED CLEVER TO THE MAN MOUNTIN BRING ON THE BROTHERS HE’LL BEAT THEM BOTH!!!!
Amusing stuff coming out of the clouded minds of these English supporters of the contemptible Hayefaker whose support appears to stem mainly from the types of fan that would support anyone as long as this personage somehow in some way can bring back a small bit of the glory of old England from its celebrated days of yore. Too bad really for these folks becuz we are in today, the times of the celebrated Klitschko brothers, who make a prevailing habit out of winning their heavyweight bouts by KO not by running from a fight like the notorious poltroon Hayewire
Who has the stronger chin, Valuev or Vitali? Klitchko is going to get hit, not as much as Valuev, but, if Haye can tire him out and then start to work his chin, then Haye can knock him out.
carcia reyes should do time for that score
Wow great article, we don’t get many unbiased writers here, you are an exception sir! I hope David fights 2/3 contenders before a Klitschko he’s very ambitious though! Looking forward to his next fight that’s for sure – perfectly executed gameplan saturday night!
VERY GOOD WRIGHTING YOU MAKE SOME GOOD POINTS AND I AGREE WITH YOU’ BUT I DO THINK HAYES GOT A GREAT CHANCE OF BEATING BOTH THE BROTHERS ONE IS GETTING ON AND THE OTHER IS A BIT CHINNY HAYE’S SPEED WILL BEAT BOTH I THINK
BUT WELL HAVE TO W8 AND SEE
I think in the current crop of british heavyweights (maybe with the exception of tyson fury) Towers seems to be the main man. I think i watched his third fights against a pole and he seemed to have great potential.
Thanks for the comments
this is the best article ive read on david haye.
you are a very good writer who clearly have alot knowledge of boxing.
unlike some writers on here.
can you keep an eye out for a 6′8 heavywieght superstar in the making called Richard Towers.
he’s training at famous ingle gym in sheffield..
have you heard of him???
Very good article, if only gilfoid could read, he would see what a balanced article was all about