Haye: “It’s unlikely that I’ll even watch it” [the Klitschko-Johnson fight]

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye sounds a little jealous of the attention surrounding World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko’s bout against Kevin Johnson on Saturday, saying to the Daily Telegraph “It’s one of the weakest fights of recent times. It’s unlikely that I’ll even watch it.” It might be bout that could turn out to be a huge mismatch, but my guess is Haye will be sitting and watching the fight with great interest tomorrow night.

After all, Haye has been talking long and hard about fighting Vitali Klitschko since Haye backed out of a fight with Vitali earlier this year to take the arguably much safer contest against the light hitting former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev. If Haye had only stuck it out and fought Vitali, he wouldn’t have to worry about watching him on Saturday night.

Haye, however, didn’t like the terms of the contract with Vitali, and especially didn’t like to have to give a rematch with with Klitschko should Haye have been able to beat him. In hindsight, it seems rather silly of Haye, because he had little chance of beating Vitali, so he didn’t need to really worry all that much about rematch clauses.

Likewise, even if Haye did fight a rematch with Vitali or end up fighting his brother, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Haye would have been much better off financially in those fights that he would be risking his tender chin against heavyweight contenders like Odlanir Solis, Eddie Chambers or Alexander Povetkin, to name just a few of the top heavyweight contenders that Haye needs to be seriously worried about in the future.

Haye, speaking of the Johnson-Klitschko fight said, “On paper, it’s an absolute mismatch. There is nothing special about Kevin Johnson and nothing on his record that suggests he’s going to threaten Vitali. The guys doesn’t even have a unique name.” Who cares. Haye didn’t have anything on his resume before he fought Valuev, so why is he complaining about this fight. Haye’s experience at heavyweight was rather poor to say the least, fighting Monte Barrett and Tomas Bonin, two B level fighters.

And Haye’s experience in a dreadfully weak cruiserweight division hardly counts. Haye didn’t even stick around long enough to fight dangerous cruiserweights like Steve Cunningham, Marco Huck and Tomasz Adamek. I would have really liked to have seen Haye fight those guys before he took off from the division after wins against Enzo Maccarinelli and Jean Marc Mormeck, Haye’s biggest wins of his cruiserweight career. I’m sorry, but I don’t consider those two fighters in the same league as Adamek, Huck and Cunningham.

It’s disappointing that Haye left the cruiserweight division without fighting them. Haye hasn’t exactly gone after the most dangerous fighters in the heavyweight division since moving up in weight, taking Barrett and then Valuev, while backing out of two fights against the Klitschko brothers.

Haye is all excited about the BBC Sports award, as he’s been nominated as one of the finalists for the award. Haye says “The most competitive action this weekend will come on Sunday, when I’m nominated alongside nine other sportsmen and women for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.” If this award is based on personality’s rather than accomplishments, then Haye should get the award because of his mouth. But if it’s based on tough fights and huge accomplishments, then I think Haye shouldn’t even be considered.

Valuev appeared to have been beaten in his fight prior to the Haye bout by 46-year-old Evander Holyfield, who fought a much more exciting fight, landing way more power punches, than Haye did in his painfully boring bout with Valuev on November 7th. Because of all the running Hayed did in the Valuev fight, it was really hard for me to watch the bout without drinking coffee to stay away. Seriously, this was some really boring stuff.

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