Haye-Klitschko have no deal for a fight

By Chris Williams: According to Fight News, the reports that were out earlier yesterday about a preliminary deal for a fight between World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and WBA title holder David Haye are not correct. Haye’s manager, Adam Booth, says that there is no such deal that has been made between Klitschko and Haye for a fight.

“There is absolutely no agreement in place for David Haye to face Vitali Klitschko,” Booth said. “We have had no contact with Vitali Klitschko or his team and were surprised to see him make those comments over the weekend. David’s next fight will be against American mandatory challenger John Ruiz and that will go ahead in either April or May.” Indeed, the news yesterday was a bit of a surprise given how much work had been involved with just trying to arrange the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Haye bout for earlier this year.

It will be interesting to see if the two sides are able to strike a deal in the future if Haye is able to get by Ruiz next. A victory over Ruiz by Haye, especially if it’s an impressive one, will give the Haye camp more bargaining room to get a better deal with the Klitschko brothers. And since both of them have been champions a lot longer than Haye and have fought better fighters in the heavyweight division during their careers compared to Haye, the negotiation process might end up being a long and hard one.

Haye, 29, has fought only three times as a heavyweight, beating Tomasz Bonin, Monte Barrett and Nikolay Valuev, not exactly the murderers’ row of heavyweights. Haye didn’t look at all good in beating Valuev by a narrow 12 round majority decision in November, moving a lot and throwing few punches in the fight. Before the fight, Haye had been predicting that he would knock Valuev out.

What we got instead was Haye fighting a cautious safety first fight, which was very hard to watch. Haye’s supporters say that he did what he had to do to get the win. Nonetheless, it was a dull fight and it ran at odds with Haye’s bold predictions that he had made going into the fight.

Haye can help himself by looking good against 37, soon to be 38-year-old John Ruiz, in 2010. If Haye struggles with Ruiz, it may cause his stock to go down dramatically. It’s one thing to struggle against seven foot Valuev, but to have problems in two consecutive fights like this would suggest that Haye may not be the answer that the heavyweight division is looking for in terms of an exciting fighter in the ring.

Outside of the boxing ring, there’s no question that Haye talks a good game and is perhaps the best at promoting a fight in the division. However, Haye has yet to translate his speaking skills with action in his heavyweight fights against good competition. Haye beat Barrett, a 38-year-old fringe heavyweight contender, but he didn’t dominate him as well as top heavyweight contender Odlanier Solis recently did. Barrett was able to land shots against Haye, hitting him with right hands in the fight.

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