By Jim Dower: More and more I think about the David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) vs. Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) fight, I can’t see Haye coming out the victor in this one. Haye’s problems are many, starting with his weak chin. That alone is too much for him to beat someone as powerful as Vitali, 37, but when you factor in Haye’s poor stamina, limited size and tendency to stress out when attacked hard, it comes out to Vitali winning by a slaughter.
Haye’s got good power, there’s no mistake a bout that. He’s clearly one of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division, but his ability to fight hard more than few rounds is severely lacking. At best, he’s a three right fighter, no more than that. He can fight longer if not pressed by his opponents, which allows him to fight at a leisurely pace, loading up periodically and throwing bombs. However, when he’s forced to fight hard, Haye wears out fast.
In Haye’s fight with Carl Thompson in 2004, Haye fought well for the first three rounds, landing hard right hands and hooks to the body and head. By the 4th round, though Haye was still landing big shots, Thompson started taking over the fight with his big right hands. Haye was still the harder puncher at this point, but he seemed tired already, despite it being only the 4th round, and looked worried each time Thompson would land a right hand.
Near the end of the round, Thompson landed first a hard overhand right, and them moments later, a huge right uppercut that had Haye looking terrified as the round ended. I knew then that Haye was going to lose. In the 5th round, Thompson came out bouncing and looking strong whereas Haye was fighting flat-footed, appearing weak and gassed out.
There’s no reason he should have been considering that he didn’t throw all that many punches in the 4th round, yet he was for all practical purposes finished for the night. Thompson immediately nailed Haye with a hard left-right combination and then hit Haye with a powerful right to his midsection. Moments later, Thompson hit Haye with a double hook that sent Haye stumbling sideways.
Haye then responded with a hard right hand that backed Thompson into the corner. Thinking he had Thompson where he wanted him, Haye began measuring him for a right hand. Thompson, wasting little time, threw right of his own and planted Haye on the canvas.
The fight wasn’t all that big, but it didn’t take much to put Haye down. After Haye got up, he was hit with one big right hand after another by Thompson. Haye staggered around the ring, both tired and hurt. Finally, Thompson tagged him with a big right hand that sent Haye bouncing off the ropes. At the same time, Haye’s corner threw in the towel and the fight was stopped.
In losing, Haye showed that he has no defense for a right hand, poor stamina and an inability to handle heavy pressure. In a lot of ways, he was like a smaller version of Wladimir Klitschko, except that Haye didn’t throw jabs.
So, to answer my question whether Haye will be able to take a solid shot from Vitali, I had to say no. If Haye can’t take the punches from Thompson, a much smaller and weaker puncher than Vitali, then Haye surely won’t be able to take the bigger shots from the Ukrainian.
Comments are closed.