By Scott Gilfoid: In East Side Boxing’s On the Ropes program, the trainer for IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Emanuel Steward, expressed doubts about whether World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) will ever fight Wladimir. Steward said “I don’t think they will ever get that little puppy David Haye to come out from under the bed. He’s going to let his manager stay out there and lock all of the doors and protect him. I don’t think we’ll ever see David Haye fight. We may see him draw some more cartoon sketches and cut them up and do stuff like that, but I can’t understand how a guy can claim that he’s even a solid heavyweight, let alone hold a belt, and let a man talk to you the way Wladimir’s spoken about him or I’ve spoken about him.”
Haye has been completely silent since Wladimir called him out. Of course, if Haye was to respond to it, he would have almost have to accept Wladimir’s challenge or else look like he’s afraid. By not saying anything, Haye still looks bad because Wladimir has been calling him out for well over a month now. Wladimir and his brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko are considered to be the two best heavyweights in all of boxing. Haye would like to break into that group but unless he accepts the challenge from Wladimir or Vitali, Haye will always be considered below the two huge Ukrainian heavyweights.
Haye had previously talked nonstop about wanting to fight both of the Klitschko brothers after moving up to the heavyweight division in 2008. But when Haye had an opportunity to fight both, he blew it by either backing out or coming up with an injury. Now that Haye has picked up the WBA heavyweight strap with a narrow 12 round decision over 36-year-old Nikolay Valuev, Haye seems reluctant to fight a unification bout against one of the Klitschko brothers.
Steward says “He [Haye] has had no response and Wladimir is putting I think about three titles on the line plus the Ring title, and doing everything—and he still won’t even sit down and even talk about it. I personally don’t think that David Haye has any guts at all when it comes down to fighting the Klitschkos and he can’t find all these excuses about money when the man is willing to put all of his titles on the line and do a 50-50 share right down the middle with you.”
I totally agree with Mr. Steward. Here Wladimir is putting down more titles than Haye and giving him a 50-50 split of the revenue, yet Haye still isn’t stepping up to the plate and taking the fight. Wladimir has been considered the best heavyweight in boxing for the past five years since 2005 and is still considered the best. I doubt that few people outside of the UK where Haye comes from, see Haye as the best heavyweight in the world. Why should they? Haye has fought most of his career in the much weaker and watered down cruiserweight division where he briefly held down titles before moving up to the heavyweight division.
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