David Haye officially retires from boxing: Does anyone believe this is permanent?

By Boxing News - 10/13/2011 - Comments

Image: David Haye officially retires from boxing: Does anyone believe this is permanent?By Scott Gilfoid: In a long-winded statement former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion of the world David Haye he revealed today that he’s retiring from boxing rather than continuing on with the sport.

Haye’s statement was mostly boring rehashing of his career accomplishments, talk of how he is now financially set because of his fights at heavyweight and some blather about WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko not wanting to fight him and how the Klitschkos rarely fight good opposition.

Here’s some of the things Haye droned on about according to the telegraph: “Vitali Klitschko did show an interest in sharing the ring with me in 2012, but since that initial declaration we have heard the wrong kind of noises from team Klitschko, which has left me thinking there is little chance of the fight ever coming to fruition. I would have very much enjoyed the idea of putting my retirement on hold for six months and going in against another champion that no one gave me a chance of beating.”

What probably happened is the Klitschkos gave Haye an idea of what his cut would be if he were to agree to a fight with the Klitschkos and he likely didn’t like the idea of fighting for only a smaller cut compared to the 50% cut he got for the Wladimir fight. Of course Haye would have to take a much lesser cut of the pie this time because he was shown to be no better fighter than many of Wladimir’s fights against lesser heavyweights. You don’t get spanked the way Haye did and then ask for a good deal against another great fighter like Vitali. All Haye deserved was the scrapings in a Vitali fight and that’s probably the “noise” that Haye didn’t like hearing.

I guess Haye doesn’t count himself as good opposition because he got whipped by Wladimir Klitschko already, and it’s not even interesting now to think of a Vitali-Haye fight because of how much of a mismatch it would be.

I don’t for a second see this as any kind of real retirement. It’s all theatrics pure and simple. Haye is going on a brief vacation until Vitali or Wladimir waive some green stuff under his snoot and Haye will be right back out of retirement. It’s all so so obvious.

If it is a permanent retirement then all I can think of is what a disappointing career. Haye did win a couple of titles at cruiserweight but he never fought really quality opposition like Steve Cunningham, Marco Huck and Denis Lebedev. Haye got out of the division after wins over Enzo Maccarinelli and Jean Marc Mormeck. Neither of those guys could hold a title now, which means Haye didn’t accomplish much at cruiserweight.

At heavyweight, Haye beat Nikolay Valuev, the WBA paper champion in 2009, rather than facing Wladimir or Vitali for the title at the time. Haye then beat an old 38-year-old John Ruiz, 39-year-old Audley Harrison in a truly ugly, ugly fight that angered a lot of boxing fans who payed to watch Haye fight.

Then Haye finally fought someone good in Wladimir Klitschko and got beat in every way possible in a humiliating performance. To say Haye was exposed in that fight was putting it lightly. What a disappointing career. A lot of boxing fans saw the Wladimir fight as Haye’s cash out fight, a bout where he finally got his big payday so he could get out of the sport without being tested or bested by the younger contenders that Haye never fought like Robert Helenius.



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