By Clive Nigels: The long awaited unification fight between WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) and IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) is now signed up and will take place in either June or July. This is a massive fight for the sport of boxing and it is exactly what the stagnant heavyweight division needs!
For a long time now the Klitschko’s have dominated the heavyweight scene and have almost effortlessly won their fights of late. However it is widely known that the level and standard of competition is not what it once was and whilst the domineering performances can be applauded for displays of ring generalship, superior tactics and in some cases devastating power, you do have to take a step back and say well “I never really believed they stood a chance”! This is certainly not to discredit the Klitschko’s as I have a lot of respect them but it is definitely a point of view to consider.
Heavyweight Champions of the past had quality competition, I’m not going to name them, you can do that yourselves, but these were fights where it was genuinely a close call going into it and anyone could win!
I think for the first time in a long time Wladimir has this kind of fight!
You may be a Wladimir fan and you won’t give Haye a cat in hells chance of beating your man… and think that Wladimir will do what you have become accustom to and that he will jab, keep his range, nullify the attacks of the opposition and eventually land the big shot or accumulative shots for a KO/TKO.
I’ve watched so many Wladimir fights that become boring to watch because the contender has frozen, they stand right in front of Wladimir and they inevitably become a jab pad.
But Wladimir has never fought someone like Haye. He has fought a few people with speed and a lot of people with power but nobody with Hayes combination of speed and power, mix that in with the athleticism of a cruiserweight, the focus and determination to stick to the game plan and also, finally, a very calm dedicated corner man!
This isn’t to say that Haye will definitely win or that he will find it any easier than anyone else but he has more attributes than the majority, if not all of the last say, ten people that Wladimir has fought!
The main concern for me in this fight is Haye’s tactics! What will he do? It is unlikely that Wladimir will do anything different then he has done in his last ten fights, we know he has a set formula, safety first and keep the range on his terms, so it’s down to Haye and Booth to hatch the battle plan.
We saw a very cautious outside-hit and run tactic against Valuev and although he was criticized for “running” the whole night he made Valuev look hopeless and I think this was the only tactic that would have worked against Valuev!
Would it work against Wladimir? I don’t think he would win the fight like this outright but it could lead the fight into another direction…I think if Haye utilizes half of this game plan and keeps on the outside and stays elusive but comes in with combos, body jabs and hard hooks in more frequent stages then he did against Valuev he will eventually start to annoy Wladimir and disrupt his flow.
I think this plan mixed with the big occasion of the fight and the inevitable disrespectful trash talking prior to the fight which will only get worse from Haye will eventually take Wladimir out of his comfort zone and will force him to come searching for Haye with aggression and maybe a lack of focus and with Hayes speed and athleticism he will catch Wladimir and Knock him out! So my prediction Haye KO/TKO between rounds 6-10!!
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