By Chris Williams: Since David Haye’s 12 round majority decision victory over former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev on November 7th, the British fighter has received a great deal of attention in the boxing world. Rightly or wrongly, Haye appears to have received more attention in that one fight, mostly because of his outstanding self promotional skills, than both Klitschko brothers combined for the entirety of their careers.
It might not seem fair, since both brothers have accomplished much more in their respective careers than Haye has at this point. It’s still a little early to speak about this, but will Haye be able to get equal footing with the Klitschko brother’s when/if Haye beats his mandatory challenger John Ruiz next year? There is talk that Haye wants a 50-50 deal with the Klitschko’s in a unification bout and I can’t blame Haye for asking for this, since he’s more talked about than either of the Klitschko brothers.
But does Haye deserve to get a 50% deal with the Klitschko brothers given that Haye hasn’t really accomplished much in the heavyweight division? There’s obviously no way to compare what Haye has accomplished to what the Klitschko brothers have, because Haye has spent most of his seven year pro boxing career fighting in the cruiserweight division where he captured the WBA, WBC and WBO titles before moving up in weight last year.
The Klitschko brothers, both towering heavyweights at 6’6″ and over, have been heavyweights their entire career and have held titles off and on for the past nine years. You would think that the Klitschko brothers with their greater accomplishments in the heavyweight division and longevity would be able to get a better deal with Haye when it came to the bargaining table. But that may not be.
If the boxing public is more interested in Haye, for whatever reason, than the past accomplishments of the Klitschko brothers will likely not mean a thing. The sport is partially show business and if a fighter doesn’t have charisma and the ability to put fans in the seats than they don’t get to make the same amount when dealing with more popular stars. It’s actually partly the fault of the Klitschko brothers.
Both of them are quiet in nature, rarely giving interviews outside of Europe, never making boasts and fighting very conservatively in their bouts. It’s not that they haven’t been knocking out their opponents, because both Wladimir and Vitali have two of the highest knockout percentages in the entire heavyweight division for the amount of fights that they’ve been involved in, yet neither of them go out trying to flatten their opponents in the first couple of rounds like Haye does.
Wladimir used to fight like that in the past, but after running out of gas in fights with Ross Puritty, Lamon Brewster and being destroyed by Corrie Sanders, Wladimir has dramatically changed his fighting style under trainer Emanuel Steward and fights more like Lennox Lewis than a fighter like Mike Tyson.
David Haye, at least until he moved up to the heavyweight division, was like a slender version of Tyson, with quick hands and explosive power. Haye has looked much less impressive since moving up in weight to the heavyweight division but he’s still capable of landing a hard shot every now and then that makes you catch notice of him.
Would either of the Klitschko brothers be willing to accept taking only 50% in a fight with Haye? It might cause them to feel insulted because of how little Haye has accomplished in the division. Technically, Haye is a heavyweight champion but that kind of loses its meaning nowadays with amount of titles that there are in each division.
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