Why does Haye use all these Psychological Ploys?

By Scott Gilfoid: Every time I hear about David Haye, it’s usually involving him using one kind of psychological ploy or another against his opponents. With Wladimir Klitschko, it was a t-shirt showing the decapitated heads of Wladimir and his brother Vitali Klitschko. In the case of World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev, Haye has reported to having people pretending to be Valuev wearing ugly masks. Haye has criticized Valuev’s physical looks constantly hoping to get an edge. But what I don’t understand is why Haye discusses openly what he’s doing in terms of his psychological games.

What is up with that? Haye breaks down the games that he’s doing, and then states the effect that he’s trying to have on Valuev. I’ve never seen fighters do that kind of thing before, at least not in the United States.

I mean, the whole point of these psychological ploys is to intimidate and/or anger your opponent. However, when Haye explains what he’s doing with each ploy to the media, dissecting each one of his moves like a scientist, it pretty much robs him from the effect that he’s trying to gain. The whole point should be to upset your opponent and keep him guessing.

You don’t want to explain you’re doing to the media and break it down to them. That ruins everything, do you think? It’s like Haye wants a pat on the back by the media for what he’s doing. Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, two of the best fighters at intimidating and upsetting their opponents, never explained to the media what they were trying to do with their opponents by getting into their heads.

They obviously realized if they did this it would take away everything that they were doing. I don’t understand Haye at all. You don’t tell the media what you’re doing because they’re just going to write it all down and the fighter, in this case Valuev, is going to read it and then not be bothered by the ploy.

I know Haye is trying to get an extra edge against Valuev, because God knows Haye needs help in this fight, but he’s not going to get the reaction he wants if he continues to spell out what he’s doing every time in his psychological ploys. That’s really not a smart thing to do. Haye might as well just shut his yap and focus on getting ready for the fight. Valuev already is aware of what Haye is trying to do with these mind games, thanks to Haye explaining himself over and over again each time he’s interviewed.

Haye needs to realize he’s acting out a part. An actor never takes a time out to explain what he’s doing in one of the scenes to the audience. Haye needs to stay in character until after the fight. Then he should spill his guts and say what he was trying to accomplish with his games. Ideally, Haye shouldn’t say a word even then. You don’t want to have your opponents wise to the fact that you’re playing games. Haye has a lot to learn about intimidation and mind games. He’s good at playing games but lousy at keeping his mouth shut about what he’s trying to accomplish.

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