By Eric Thomas: In what is truly a rare event, HBO has decided to show IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s July 2nd unification bout against WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s). HBO previously used to show all of Wladimir’s fights but abandoned that effort due to poor ratings and non-competitive fights. The last time that one of Wladimir’s fights were shown by HBO was his fight against Hasim Rahman way back in 2008. HBO has passed on a series of mismatches since that time with Wladimir destroying Ruslan Chagaev, Eddie Chambers and Samuel Peter in one-sided mismatches.

HBO has also ignored Vitali’s fights, choosing not to show his bouts. However, HBO wants in on the Haye-Wladimir fight, which will be taking place at the Imtech Stadium, in Hamburg, Germany. HBO recognizes how huge this fight will be worldwide and don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to show the fight to an interested U.S. audience. The fight will also be picked up by RTL in Germany and Sky Box Office in the UK. HBO will also likely shown Vitali’s fight against Tomasz Adamek.

However, it’s unclear whether HBO will show more than these two fights unless there are rematches or an upset where Haye defeats Wladimir and then Vitali moves in to avenge Wladimir’s defeat. HBO will almost surely jump in on that action, because it will be guaranteed huge ratings and exciting match-up because of the revenge factor involved. Wladimir is favored to beat Haye, but there is a chance that Haye could pull off an upset. The best possible scenario for HBO and for boxing fans, is for Haye to win and then a fight between Vitali and Haye can be set up for what would be Haye’s last fight of his career win or lose.