Emanuel Steward excited about Haye-Klitschko fight

By Scott Gilfoid: Emanuel Steward, the trainer for International Boxing Federation/World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, is excited about a fight between Klitschko and the new WBA heavyweight champion David Haye. In an interview at East Side Boxing, Steward said “That’s the fight, [Haye vs. Wladimir Klitschko] that’s the only fight that I would get excited about myself, for Wladimir because David [Haye] is still a very explosive puncher, and for somebody more closer to his size [meaning the 6’6” Wladimir], I think he [Haye] has got tremendous explosive power, good coordination and reflexes, and he’s a smart fighter.”

I wonder if Steward really believes all that or is just saying that because he knows a fight between Wladimir and Haye would be a huge money maker. Steward points out in the same interview that he didn’t get a chance to see Haye’s bout against Valuev. If he had, Steward might have a few less good things to say about Haye, because the British fighter didn’t look at all good in winning the title by a close 12 round majority decision over the slow moving, slow punching Valuev.

Although Steward might want for Wladimir to get the first crack at the Haye gold mine fight, it might not be there for him the younger Klitschko. Haye first has to get by his WBA mandatory challenger John Ruiz early next year, and anything is possible in that fight. Ruiz is very aggressive and he’s hard to beat unless he’s facing someone who is really fighting well.

The last time that Ruiz really got dominated was six years ago when he was soundly beaten in a 12 round unanimous decision loss to a pumped up Roy Jones Jr. in March 2003. Ruiz has been between three times since then, losing close 12 round decisions twice to Valuev and once to Ruslan Chagaev, but all three fights were very close.

Ruiz’s biggest loss of his career in terms of blowouts go, was a 1st round knockout loss to David Tua in March 1996. Haye has power to hurt or stop Ruiz, but it may not be easy unless Haye is willing to go to war with Ruiz. Haye won’t be getting any one-punch knockouts like he’s accustomed to getting in the cruiserweight division because Ruiz can take a heck of a shot and keep fighting. At the same time, Ruiz can punch well and he’ll be a strong test for Haye’s sometimes fragile chin.

Beyond the Ruiz fight, Wladimir may decide to give his older brother Vitali the first stab at Haye. The reason being is that Vitali is getting up there in age at 38, and has a history of experiencing severe injuries. Vitali likely doesn’t have too much longer to go before his career ends, whereas the younger brother appears to have a good many years left in his pro career if he wants to.

It would be a good gesture for Wladimir if he were to decide to do this for Vitali. Wladimir wasn’t exactly pleased with Haye’s behavior when the two of them were scheduled to fight earlier this year on June 20th. Haye talked a lot of trash and created a t-shirt depicting him holding the severed heads of Wladimir and Vitali. Wladimir thought it was done in poor taste and promised to punish Haye for his actions.

However, before Wladimir got a chance to do that, Haye backed out of the fight with three weeks to go complaining of a mysterious back ailment. Haye asked for a postponement of the fight. However, Wladimir was short on patience by then and opted to fight anyway on June 20th, choosing Ruslan Chagaev to fight, and promptly destroying him with ease in a 9th round stoppage victory. The way that Wladimir looked that night, it’s hard to imagine Haye lasting more than two or three rounds.

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