By Chris Williams: In an article by Steve Bunce at the Mirror, British heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) sounded as if he had bought into his own hype, saying “the Klitschkos and other robots from the East have nearly ruined the sport [of boxing] and I’ve put myself in charge of tearing the title back for the fans.”
Haye, 28, sounded a little off in the interview, speaking about things like “destiny” and this that, appearing as if beating Wladimir was a forgone conclusion. Haye’s confidence is scary, because he sounds far too confident compared to what he’s actually accomplished in the ring, losing to 40-year-old fighters like Carl Thompson and being knocked down by short cruiserweights like Jean Marc Mormeck.
If Haye had beaten some quality fighters in the cruiserweight division rather than fighters that would be knocked out by virtually every heavyweight in the top 15, I could see his confidence. But as it is, Haye seems like an over confident heavyweight drunk on his success of beating inferior fighters in the cruiserweight division without taking the time, effort and energy into working his way into a title shot against Klitschko.
Haye seems to reason that by going a step further than other British fighters like Joe Calzaghe, and Ricky Hatton, he can make sure that he’s not ignored by the boxing public and forgotten, which is perhaps Haye’s reason for going immediately after Wladimir without working his way into a title shot like normal fighters. For that, I can respect him a little for taking the shot, as crazy as it might be. I think it’s stupid and misguided, but I can understand wanting to fight better opponents than Calzaghe and Hatton. Those two fighters took it easy until the end of their careers when they finally fought a few decent fighters.
However, it seems like a misguided thing for Haye to do, because he hasn’t yet proven that he can beat other heavyweights like Tony Thompson, Chris Arreola, Alexander Dimitrenko or even Lamon Brewster. Frankly, I can’t see Haye beating any of them judging by how he’s looked while fighting as a cruiserweight.
Haye seems to be like a carbon copy of David Tua, a fighter that lived and died on his power shots and was capable of being out-boxed if his opponent could take his shot. Winning by knockout is Haye’s only chance at beating Wladimir or any other heavyweight with good talent, because he’s a slugger without the boxing skills that are needed to be successful for any length of time.
This is why it seems so delusional of Haye to be speaking about destiny and about taking the sport of boxing to a different place. Believe me, the heavyweight division has seen fighters like Haye before. He’s no different from other one-dimensional heavyweights that depend entirely on trying to knockout their opponents.
In the last part of the article, Haye mentioned wanting to get “under Wladimir’s skin” one more time before the fight. It sounds like a desperate ploy on Haye’s part in hopes of angering Wladimir. I think Haye has succeeded at doing that, but it’s not going to change Klitschko’s fighting style for their June 20th bout at the Veltins Arena, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
It might get some more people interested in the bout, but that’s as far as it goes. Wladimir will focus on boxing Haye from the distance as he always does in his fights and will jab the much shorter Haye to pieces. Haye moves like a slow tank around the ring, occasionally throwing wild leaping hooks.
I can’t see Haye landing much of any of those shots because he’s facing a much taller fighter this time around. Haye can land his shots against smaller cruiserweights or smaller heavyweights like Monte Barrett, who actually was slightly bigger than Haye, but not against the bigger heavyweights like the Klitschkos and Dimitrenko. Against those fighters, Haye is going to be at a tremendous disadvantage and will be beaten as easily as Michael Grant was by Lennox Lewis.
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