By John F. McKenna (McJack): Boxing fans are tired of the on again off again saga of a potential fight between David Haye and either of the Klitschko Brothers. Boxing fans, depending on their preference, tend to blame it on Haye if they are a Klitschko fan, while Haye fans blame the stalemate on the Klitschko’s. Whether you like Haye or not, one has to concede that he is a big draw, and a fight between Haye and the Klitschko’s would bring in Mega Bucks.

The Klitschko’s have dominated the heavyweight division in a way that is reminiscent of what legendary heavyweight champion Joe Louis did back in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Vladimir has been heavyweight champion for nearly seven years and at this time appears to be untouchable by any of the current contenders. Vitali, since returning to the ring in the fall of 2008 has also been a dominant force. He has won virtually every round in the six fights he has had since his return.

There has been some criticism by fans and boxing writers alike that the Klitschko’s are boring in their safety first approach. It is true at times that Emanuel Steward occasionally has had to build a fire under Vladimir between rounds to get him motivated. Winning all twelve rounds of a fight is not that exciting to watch. The fans want to see more. Vitali on the other hand appears to enjoy mixing it up with his opponents as illustrated in his October 16, 2010 beat down of Shannon Briggs. Vitali immediately went on the attack in a fight that should have been stopped, if not by the referee or the ring doctor then by Briggs’s own corner.

There have been a number of times that a fight with Haye and the Klitschko’s appeared to be imminent, then for one reason or another, the fight fell through. Back in June 3, 2009, the “Hayemaker” suddenly pulled out of a scheduled fight with Vladimir that was schedule to take place in Germany on June 20, 2009. This after 40,000 tickets had already been sold for the event. Haye, at the time claimed that he was pulling out due to an injury. Then on July 23, 2009 Haye again pulled out of a fight, this time with Vitali klitschko that was scheduled to take place on September 12, 2009. In this fight the final details were being worked out when Haye went missing in action. The Haye camp could not be contacted to advise as to what was going on. After a period of time, Klitschko adviser Shelly Finkel was notified by letter that the “Hayemaker” had opted to fight Nikolai Valuev. This occurred after a television deal was in place and a 55,000 seat stadium in Germany had been secured. Haye turned around and attempted to shift the blame for this latest debacle from himself and put it all on the Klitschko camp. Haye claimed that the Klitschko’s were loading him up with a “slave” contract that would tie him up for too long a period of time. The contract had a rematch clause in it, which is normal. The contract stipulated that if Haye won the fight with Vitali, he could either fight Vitali again, or fight Vladimir, then Vitali. All of this should not have been a problem for Haye, who had promised to “clean up the heavyweight division” when he won the title. If Haye was so sure that he could defeat either of the Klitschko’s, then what is the problem of having to fight one and then the other Klitschko? After all, these fights would be in the Mega Bucks category. Think of how much money Haye would make and how much his popularity would rise if he defeated Vitali or Vlad and then faced the other Klitschko. HBO and all the other venues would be falling all over themselves to promote the “Fight of the Century”. We have not had one of those lately. Think about it. The heavyweight division has always been the driving force in boxing, back to the days of the immortal John L. Sullivan. The “Great John L” became the first heavyweight champion through his sheer will to challenge every fighter that he thought was a threat to his dominance. His version of trash talking was to say “I can lick any son of a bitch in the house!”

David Haye seems to have gotten himself into the predicament that he trash talked his way into a fight he really does not think he can win. At some point you have to back up your trash talk. During a press conference with Vlad, Haye showed up wearing a T shirt depicting the severed heads of the Klitschko brothers with blood gushing out of their headless bodies on the floor. This did not set well with the Klitschko’s. They both want a piece of him. British promoter Frank Warren stated “I believe the Klitschko’s have always wanted that fight with Haye.” Warren also said that he could not understand why Haye would fight Audley Harrison when he could have fought one of the Klitschko’s. Warren went on to say that Haye’s manager Adam Booth was by far the most difficult manager he has ever dealt with, bar none.

History speaks for itself. Most recently a fight between Vladimir Klitschko and David Haye was to be held on July 2, 2011. Vladimir, who feared a repeat of the collapse of the June 20, 2009 fight against Haye, elected to defend his title against Derek Chisora in April. Haye used this as yet another excuse to bail out of the fight with Vladimir. The problem with all of this is that some of Haye’s diehard fans actually believe the garbage that the blame lies with the Klitschko’s. Those ranks I believe are thinning. I have always felt that Haye really did not believe his own trash talking. Vlad is already lining up a fight in the fall with Thomas Adamek. To be sure, I think it will bother both Klitschko’s immensely if they do not get the opportunity to see what David Haye is really made of. It would surprise me if Haye ever takes things past the trash talking stage and actually gets into the ring with one of the Klitschko’s.