By William Mackay: Recently, World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KO’s) said that he would retire at the end of 2010, after [hopefully] fighting WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s). But I’m wondering whether the 29-year-old Haye will ever choose to fight Klitschko? Haye already had a chance to fight both Klitschko brothers and in both cases, Haye either came in lame at the starting line or pulled away because he was unhappy with the contract terms.
Given that coming events cast their shadows before, we could see Haye continue to look in a different direction rather than risk his impressive looking record by getting in the ring against the 38-year-old Klitschko.
To be sure, you couldn’t blame Haye if he did sidestep around Klitschko and opt to fight some of the rather mediocre fighters in the top 15 in the WBA. As bad as some of these fighters are, Haye, in theory, could hold onto his title for many years to come and get out of the sport without suffering another loss.
But if Haye faces the older Klitschko brother, who would have a big four inch height advantage over the 6’3” Haye, then there’s an excellent chance that Haye would not only get beaten, but also knocked out in the process. So I couldn’t really blame Haye if he decides to wait Klitschko out until he retires, especially when many other top fighters in the lower weight classes are picking and choosing beatable opponents rather than taking risky fights.
Why should Haye be any different than the typical cherry pickers? Vital is quite vulnerable because of his advanced age. Even if he wants to stick around, he’s at an age now where we will surely start seeing an even more dramatic decrease in his hand speed than we saw in his last fight against unbeaten heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson in December. Klitschko looked as if he had lost some of his hand speed from his last fight only three months earlier in September.
But more importantly, Klitschko, with his history of injuries, could sustain a career-ending injury at any time now because of his age, and that would be the end of any hopes of a fight against Haye. As such, Klitschko can’t afford to wait beyond 2010 if he wants a competitive fight against Haye, and this puts the British fighter in a position of power.
Haye can easily go in another direction, saying that the contract terms weren’t to his liking and Klitschko would have little choice but to retire unless he wants to stick around and fight no-name heavyweights for another year or two, hoping that Haye will change his mind. But I have feeling that Haye never will. He can really milk his title for long time if he avoids fighting either of the Klitschko brothers.
The heavyweight division being as talent poor as it is, a fighter like Haye can really dominate the division as long as he stays away from the Klitschko brothers. They’re obviously too big for Haye to match up well against, and it would be almost a certain loss if he were to decide on fighting one or both of them.
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