Wladimir remains silent

By Boxing News - 04/23/2011 - Comments

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) is remaining surprisingly quiet, allowing David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) to dominate the headlines regarding their upcoming unification fight on July 2nd.

Now that the venue for their Mega fight has been set to be held at the Hamburg Imtech Arena in Germany, it appears likely that the fight boxing fans have been waiting for will finally take place. Wladimir, who holds the IBF, WBO, IBO and the Ring Heavyweight title will be attempting to take David Haye’s WBA title when they clash. Bernd Bonte, Managing Director of the Klitschko’s Management Group has announced that the fight will be carried by 150 TV stations world wide, which will show the fight live by delay.

David Haye dominated the cruiserweight division before moving up to the heavyweight ranks. In June of 2009 Vladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko and David “The Hayemaker” Haye appeared to be on the verge of fighting for the title, but that fight fell apart when Haye came up with an injury. Later in the same summer Haye also pulled out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko, choosing to fight WBA Champion Nikolai Valuev instead. Haye won the WBA Championship with a decision over the Russian giant in unimpressive fashion, throwing less than ten punches a round as he circled the ring and kept his distance from Valuev. Haye then defended his WBA title against John Ruiz and most recently against Audley Harrison who he KO’d in the third round in a fight which Harrison showed absolutely no offense.

Up to this point Vladimir has allowed David Haye to do the trash talking and has been reluctant to retaliate. It is clear however that “The Hayemaker” has succeeded in getting under “Dr. Steelhammer’s” skin. Haye raised the ire of both Klitschko’s when he showed up at a press conference a couple of years ago wearing a tee shirt which depicted the severed heads of both Klitschko’s, with their headless corpses laying on the floor. Vladimir has vowed to do all his talking when he climbs into the ring with Haye on
July 2nd. It is not clear whether Haye is as confident as his rants to the press seem to indicate. Most recently Haye stated that he would knock out Vladimir after which he would knock out his brother Vitali. On face value alone that would seem to be a very tall order. Even if Haye gets past “Dr. Steelhammer” most boxing writers and fans think that “The Hayemaker” has zero chance to knockout Vitali, who has never been knocked down and has not lost a round in the seven fights since his return to the ring in 2008. It would appear that if David thought he could defeat both of the Klitschko’s so easily that he would not have been so reluctant to get into the ring with them for a huge Mega bucks fight.

Tom Loeffler, Managing Director of K-2 Promotions is elated at the prospect of the
Haye – Klitschko fight taking place and stated that the Klitschko’s have been filling soccer stadiums in Germany for the past few years. Loeffler was quoted as saying that “the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany is a great venue.”

BSkyB will show the fight live on Pay Per View in the UK. HBO will televise the fight in the US and RTL will broadcast the fight live and exclusively in Germany.

Good or bad, the controversial remarks that David Haye has been making about the Klitschko’s will undoubtedly produce ticket sales. Muhammad Ali used to use the same tactic when he was at the top of his game. Ali however had the rare ability to back up his boasting. He once acknowledged that he got the idea to harass and bad mouth his opponents from pro wrestler “Gorgeous” George. Ali noted that people would pay to see “Gorgeous” George get beat up. Ali then incorporated “Gorgeous” George’s antics into his own repertoire.

There is little doubt that the Haye – Klitschko fight will produce more excitement than any Heavyweight Championship fight in years. Hopefully the fight will live up to the advanced hype.



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