By Eric Thomas: According to the Dailymail.co.uk, heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) has apparently been warned by the British Boxing Board of Control about his t-shirt that he had made showing him holding the decapitated heads of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and his brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.
Haye, 28, had worn the t-shirts to two of his recent press conferences with Wladimir, angering the Ukrainian each time and causing him to complain repeatedly about the shirt. Wladimir, 33, especially was upset that the t-shirt not only showed his decapitated head, but also his brother’s head.
It seems that Haye might have misjudged the reaction from Wladimir about the t-shirt, and lost track of the big picture of what it means to a person when you not only insult them, but also insult a family member. Haye, a former WBA/WBC/WBO cruiserweight champion, likely added Vitali’s picture to the t-shirt because Haye would like to eventually fight him as well.
Indeed, if Haye can defeat Wladimir in back to back fights, it would mean that Vitali would be next up for him. Beating Vitali would be like winning the triple crown and would vault Haye into super stardom. However, many people are predicting that Haye will be in over his head against the taller 6’7″ Wladimir and will be knocked out by him before Haye ever gets a chance at Vitali Klitschko.
As for the warning from the British Boxing Board of Control, it’s unclear what would come next if Haye were to sport another similar t-shirt to future press conferences with Wladimir Klitschko. Haye still has a long ways to go before his June 20th bout with Wladimir at the Veltins Arena, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and it’s hard to imagine that Haye will be able to resist pulling other similar tricks on Wladimir.
The warning from the British Boxing Board of Control could be sufficient to prevent Haye from wearing t-shirts of this kind in the future, but it won’t likely stop Haye from pulling other surprises on Wladimir before the fight.
Haye has shaken up the boxing world somewhat by talking his way into a title fight without having to fight his way into a shot at title like most fighters have to do. Champions have the options of taking on non-mandatory challengers, but in this case Haye has fought only twice at heavyweight, both times against less than impressive competition.
Many people would have liked to have seen Haye fight other top ranked heavyweights like Odlanier Solis, who defeated Haye as an amateur, Samuel Peter, Chris Arreola or Alexander Dimitrenko before getting a title shot against Wladimir Klitschko. Instead, all Haye had to do was beat Monte Barrett, a 37-year-old, who had been beaten in three out of his last six fights going into his November 2008 bout with Haye.
It wasn’t looked at as a credible win by many boxing fans, and it was hoped that with all of Haye’s talk about wanting to fight a top opponent before the fight, that he was going to fight a much better opponent than Barrett.
Comments are closed.