King calls David Haye “a terrible disappointment”; also says Klitschkos are more champions of Germany than the world
August 20th, 2011
By William Mackay: American promoter Don King was less than impressed with the performance from former World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye in his embarrassing one-sided 12 round decision loss to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko last July. King, who just turned 80, didn’t like the way that Haye fought so passively against the big 6’6″ Wladimir. King says he wouldn’t have fought that way had he been his promoter.
I think King has badly overestimated Haye’s talent based on wins over a handful of older heavyweights. Haye never stood a chance against Wladimir no matter how bravely he fought. He was simply too small and facing a guy with much better boxing ability and experience. Wladimir’s size made it all but impossible for Haye to win. Had he come aggressive like King probably wanted him to, it would have led to a knockout loss. The problem Haye had was that he’s basically a cruiserweight who never really fought anyone but a few limited guys. Haye never faced the real quality cruiserweights that came after him. And when Haye did move up in weight to the heavyweight division, he was matched even softer than he was at cruiserweight.
Let’s face it, Haye was more of a mirage than the real thing. I would have liked to have seen what he could have become had he been matched against really cruiserweights like Steve Cunningham, Tomasz Adamek and Marco Huck, to name just a few, and then matched against a stack of quality heavyweights before taking on Wladimir. Unfortunately, the best guys Haye fought at cruiserweight was Jean Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli, and the top guys he fought at heavyweight were Nikolay Valuev, John Ruiz, Monte Barrett and Audley Harrison. Haye was matched soft and the result was he was hopefully out of his depth when he finally had to fight a good fighter in Wladimir. This is what you get when you cherry pick opponents. It stunts fighter’s growth when they do that.
King is wrong about the Klitschkos being more champions of Germany than the world. I mean, why aren’t they champions of the world? I’m not sure what King means by that. Does he mean they’re not charismatic enough to be champions of the world or does he mean they’re not as good as some of the other heavyweights? There isn’t anyone they can’t beat in the world, so I guess that means they’re champions of the world. You could put Valuev, Haye, Alexander Povetkin, Ruslan Chagaev, Ray Austin, Odlanier Solis, Chris Arreola or any other top heavyweight in with the Klitschkos and the Klitschkos will win. I think that makes them champions of the world. But if King means they’re not charismatic champions, then he’s right. They’re not great talkers like some of the heavyweights of the past nor are they as charismatic as David Haye. But they are a lot better fighters than him and that’s all that counts.
Tags: 50 Responses to “King calls David Haye “a terrible disappointment”; also says Klitschkos are more champions of Germany than the world”
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you cant imagine wlad losing to fighters like rahman or mccall but yet he lost to ross purity, corrie saunders and lamon brewster all by ko get a grip there different fighters in different eras if i had to chose id say lewis considering a old, slow, washed up lewis with 2 weeks notice due to a fight with kirk johnson falling apart beat a prime, in shape vitali whom i have always considered to be the better klit and enough of the cut it happened deal with it also lewis was beating vitali up in rnds 5-6. lennox lewis whether your a fan or not was the heavyweight division when he retired everyone lost interest in the division.
i am utterly sick of all this ‘not charismatic enough’ nonsense. these people are boxers, thats what they should be good at, boxing.
Look at Lewis’ record. It is not exactly a tough bunch. The best was Holyfield, already fading. And Tyson, who was washed up. Cant imagine Vladimir losing to Rahman or McCall. Or struggling with Mercer or Mavrovic.
what about holyfield….he cheated for years. but you always say wonderful things about him. you are way too transparent…..pretending to be from germany doesnt make you seem more convincing by the way.
i live and work in boxing in america. and the k brothers are despised because of their education, race, and country. america has few white fans—its a minority driven market. even the fighters the k brothers beat—if they are black—still put them down and berate them. the believe no white fighter can really be any good…and thats most of what we hear against the k brothers—racism. (by the way, i am lennox’s mother…).
lewis was rubbing his glove in the cut throughout the fight…thats why vitali was angry about, esp when they fell on the mat. i dont believe for a second you are german—silly to say so—you’re prejudcies are too apparent. german??? funny stuff…typical blogger stuff though.
it took lewis 8 rounds to knock out phil jackson, it took vladimir 2…by the way. and jackson said vladimir hit much harder….and so did mercer. so maybe they should know.
lewis you never know what you are talking about. how fast you knock someone out has nothing to do with talent…take ali for instance. ali wasnt a knock out artist….does that mean shavers was better…?
And Jackson: Don´t talk sore looser nonsense about the preparation of Wladimir before the Botha-Fight. His coach Fritz Sdunek said: “Wladimir’s preparation for the Botha fight was great. Both brothers are in fantastic condition.” 220 pounds were normal at that time for Wladimir.
Fact is: Wladimir needed 8 rounds, Tyson 5 and Lewis 2. That´s the natural hierarchy.
I hate Klitschko? My dear I am german. And every german likes the Klitschkos. They are gentlemen they are not the big mouth David Haye white trash alikes.
But yes: I don´t like cheaters and Vitali was (and maybe is) one of them.
He was also a sore looser after the Lewis-Fight talking about manipulation and so on. Like his fans. And that´s what I don´t like.
Honest Don telling it as it is.
Fact is that Vitali LOST. Got it?
Witali never has been knocked out by the likes of mcall or rahman like lewis was.
Lennox was domintet by Vitali untill he got the cut that blinded his eye. Still Lennox wasnt outboxing Vitali.
Secondly looking at Lennox boxrecord well it isnt more impresive than Vitalis.
And Lennox was in trouble a lot of times, where Vitali wasnt.
This is my last comment about the nonsens comming from a Lennox fanboy.
Dont use energi on Tyson lewis, he avoids good arguments by comming up with other arguments.
Enyway i must say if you judge a boxer by ko, Lennox was ko´d twice, Vitali wasnt ever so Vitali must be better.
Lame arguments, as a said. Lennox are among the greatest so far, but he wasnt as dominating as the Klitschko´s, Just look at the boxers boxrecords.
@anonymous: obviously you are not able to say what you wanna say in one or two posts.
coming to your “expertise”:
“Watch the Mercer fight” – it´s a joke, Mercer was 41 meanwhile, you can´t compare. You just ignore the Botha-Fight which is the most compareable fight because of the least amount of time between these fights.
“Byrd had beaten Golota rather easily. Golota had beaten up Bowe. Bowe had beaten Holyfield.” There is something missing: Lewis ko´d Golota in one round, has beaten Bowe in 3 and also Holyfield.
Lennox was olympic champion – Vitali took anabolics and had to stay home. This is his legacy.
Lennox had all the belts ALONE.
He has beaten each and everyone he ever faced.
King seems to be an consummate bad egg when dealing with the rest of humanity. Whatever this guy says or does must be carefully examined. I would not trust him as far as I can throw a house.
I don’t trust you Donald!
is that why he kept valuev far far away from the bros when valuev had a belt? fu don
And Clay was the champ of the US, DON! As well as Tyson
@lennox tyson, go watch lewis-mercer and then wladimir-mercer. this is the difference between GREAT boxer and VERY GOOD boxer.
Wladimir will be placed higher than coward Lennox in any rating list.
my favorite thing about tyson lewis is he knows who is in shape—magically i’d say. so lewis wasnt in shape, after 2 and a half months, but vitai was after 3 weeks training….because of weight????? vitali actually loses weight between bouts, lower weight is a sign hes not in shape. but then knowing that would require boxing knowledge.
The point I was making had nothing to do with Lewis. Thinking is not your strong suit apparently. I was making the point it was a big win—Vladimir’s first big fight against a guy who had never been hurt or down…and he knocked him out. And nobody in America cared. He was white and a foreigner. Vladimir’s win against Byrd was equally big. Byrd had beaten Golota rather easily. Golota had beaten up Bowe. Bowe had beaten Holyfield.
Listen to Don King. You are hearing an echo of the predudice rampant against the K brothers. By the way, to judge a fighter by how fast they knock someone out is a sign you know nothing about boxing. Ali didnt knock fighters out early or often, but Foreman did, Shavers did. So they were better??? Vladimir was far from his prime against Botha, Lewis was in the middle of his. Are you friends with Don by any chance….?
Watch the Lewis vs. Botha compared to the Wladimir vs. Botha – Fight. You see a clear difference between a great and a very good boxer.
@anonymous: Wladimir fought Mercer 6 years after Lewis. Mercer meanwhile gained 30 pounds more, was fat and slow and 41 years old. You call that a “big big win”?
The only real comparison is the fight against Botha: Lennox needed 2 rounds, Wladimir 8 two years later. Do your homework!
I know the world does not currently have any martial artist can beat Klitscko’s.
What much can we expect from a fighter who loves to fight with his big mouth rather than with his fists. A real “price” fighter.
Where is Ghaye, I think that he is nursing his jaw. Must be in bad shape after going 12 against Wladimir. Wladimir did what he said he would do and that was to take Ghaye the distance and punish him.
good point michael. there was an article in ring magazine in the late 60s that listed the “real” top 10 heavyweights. 3 of them were russians behind the iron curtain. 1 was cuban. and the article wondered what would happen to american boxing if the curtain came down. now we know….
Only champions of Germany? The same could be said of most of the previous heavyweight champions before the Iron Curtain came down. They weren’t fighting everyone in the world and the majority of fights were in the U.S.A.
The brothers grim have fought many fights in the USA. A white fighter just wont go over in the states. There are too few white fans. All the fans are either hispanic or black. Vladimir had a big big win over Mercer. He was the first to knock him, taking his best shots, looking far better than Lewis did early on. And it was in the USA. No one cared…hes a white foreigner.
don king is largely to blame–setting him up against ruiz and harrison. he should have been gaining experience against decent heavyweights. i rate haye higher after the vladimir fight. he survived a right hand in the 4th or 5th few have stood up too. though he was never the same afterward. he was stunned for several rounds—and thats when he got behind. up till then it was about even.
when you agree with the most corrupt force in boxing…well, enough said.
AGREE WITH KING. TYSON WAS NOT THE TALLEST HEAVYWEIGHT IN THE WORLD.BORING HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION, LACK OF GREAT CHAMPIONS.
RECORDS OF THE Klitschkos ARE NOT THAY GREAT TOO.
STILL WAITING FOR REAL DEAL?
haye has lots of talent—most of it undeveloped. you can thank booth, king, and haye’s crazed fans for the loss. haye needs to be critiqued, not worshiped. he needs to learn to counterpunch, to jab properly, and throw to the body. just leaping in or flurrying up close is not enough. he needs new management and a new trainer–and the humility to accept coaching. then he could be great.
king has always hated the k brothers. thats why they never fought valuev–as valuev’s manager, king insisted on the ks signing a contract with him to get the fight—and the belt. he tried to get them to sign with him for years. haye had to sign a 3 figtht deal with king just to get the fight with valuev. (was that a slave contract as well?)
Sorry brits, but haye was running backward the whole fight, threw some punches, some landed but there are absolutely no evidence that Haye hurt Wlad, i mean did his leg go, did he wobble, was he stunned, did he shell up ??? no
Mason, spinks was the little guy. Regarding the article, I agree, haye was nothing but a disappointment, I think us Brits were probably spoilt by having lennox as the main man for so long
agree with texan the ks need to fight in america. There the best heavyweights in the world right now and i think if they fought there there would be an intrest simply as its the heavyweight division
I don,t feel the same as Mr. King who believes in bitter retort of little succeses againt the Klitschcos.He sat ringside and watched hopefull Sam Peter get stymied,and overwhelmed.Then Kevin Johnson who was reduced to a few flurries in that fight.They are the best in the world until proven differently.
The Klits are awesome but Haye simply didn’t throw enough punches….he has a good jab he should have used it more to keep VK guessing and then he could have followed through with his lethal rights. He did hurt Vladimir a couple of times but he needed follow through punches …..it was like he thought he was in the Matrix…trying to slip everything Vladimir threw. Bad strategy and too focussed on defence when Haye’s best weapons are his offence. Play to your strengths.
“Scared to hit the white man!” WTF?
You can only fight the fighters that are around at the same time as you. The Klitchkos are the best of the mediocre crop around at pesent. David Haye was scared of him and his power.
In the overall scheme of things they are second rate and would have been beaten by many if not most of the heavyweights from the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s.
Ali, Foreman, Shavers and the like would have destroyed them imo.
They are East European amateur style fighters.
Nobody is interested in words coming from King’s mouth
Don King is a cu-nt who cares what he says
small guys can destroy big guys. look at tyson vs spkins
the klits are great fighters but they are not capturing the world stage like all the other great heavyweight champions. most common fans don’t even know who they are. they need to fight more in the US.
That rich coming from Don king the man who ruin Mike Tyson career.