by Jay Ross – www.twitter.com!/j_r_a_27 – Well we are just three days away from Saturday, when Wladimir Klitschko the current IBF, IBO, WBO Heavyweight champion puts his belts on the line in Hamburg against WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye. Before I get into writing, I would just like to state how excited I am for this fight! I’ve been loving the build up on Sky and hearing everyone’s opinions. Its been a while since we have had this.

But getting into the fight, Im going to start with the favorite, Wladimir Klitschko. Wlad is on a 13 fight winning streak in the heavyweight division, his last win coming against Samuel Peter last September. I think Wlad’s history in the heavyweight division is really going to help him going into this fight, if you look at it he’s been there, done it all and this fight with Haye is nothing new to him. Looking at Klitschko in the press conference it almost looks like just another fight to him and he looks ready.

So how does Wladimir Klitschko beat David Haye?

I don’t personally think that Klitschko is going to change his style to beat David Haye and I also don’t think he needs to. Why change a winning formula? Okay, David Haye is more than an athlete than anyone that Klitschko has ever fought before, but the jab that Wlad possesses is an incredible weapon. Not only do they hurt, they also wear you down and really demotivate you. If you keep running into a wall eventually your going to get disheartened and thats when he catches you with the right. Its so simple, but its effective, its worked for 49 KOs. I listened to Adam Booth yesterday who claimed it was a boring offensive style to boxing fans, it may well be boring but its won Wlad 55 out of 58 fights.

Wlad also has to slow David Haye down. He has to use his size and reach advantage, clinch a lot and corner Haye. Hayes speed is a great asset and once you take that away it could make the Hayemaker really struggle. The referee could be a big part in this fight, especially with the clinches.

The one thing I have found interesting though this week is Vitali Klitschko sudden appearance in the fight build up. I know he’s Wlad’s big brother, but what is the need for him to be there? Why not let Wladimir Klitschko have his own moment. Johnny Nelson made an interesting comment that Vitali almost looked more up for the fight than Wladimir, I don’t really agree with that but I do think Vitali should have just stayed in the background a bit more.

Lets move onto David Haye, the Londoner who holds the WBA version. Haye is still a novice to the Heavyweight division having only had 5 fights, but in those five fights he’s shown a lot more than most of the heavyweights out there. I keep hearing ‘he’s only fought past it fighters’, but if he fought up and comers the same people would be saying ‘he’s only for up and comers’. But all you have to do is look at the destruction of John Ruiz, who many thought would test Haye and the very clever tactical win against the giant Valuev, to see the quality Haye possesses.

And that brings the question how does Haye beat Klitschko?

There seems to be a lot of divided opinion on this, some say he has to box clever like against Valuev and try for points, but a lot of people are saying he has to come out of the blocks and be explosive. I tend to agree with the second statement.

Haye and Adam booth have to look at Klitschko’s weaknesses, which they are hard to find. The first weakness for me is Klitschko’s last fights. Klitschko has had it relatively easy in the heavyweight division, he’s fought a lot of substandard fighters and hasn’t really been tested that often. I don’t think this has been through choice that the fighters haven’t been up to much, I think its genuinely due to a lack of quality in the division, all you have to do is look at the postponed fight against Chisora. So Haye can go in there, at the top of his game, not just there for a payday and not let him have it all his own way. He’s going to be something that Klitschko hasn’t faced before, he’s not just a big fat hit and hope fighter, he’s actually going to move and he’s going to punch at angles.

The other asset of Klitschko is his ability to clinch. He loves a clinch and Haye has to take that away from him. How does he do that? He has to fight dirty in the clinch, I listened against to Johnny Nelson on Sky and he was spot on when he said fight dirty. When Klitschko clinches, throw in a dig at the groin when the refs not looking and the odd rabbit punch. Im not saying I like that style of boxing and it to a degree is cheating, but lets be honest if you kept getting hit in the groin would you keep going in for the clinch? I know I wouldn’t. Haye has to take that ability away from Klitschko, if he doesn’t it will just wear Haye down.

The final point il make is about both fighters. I think both fighters look up for the fight, I think both fighters have the ability to floor the other one and I think its great that they both have very different styles. Both fighters have top class corner men in Manny Stewart and Adam Booth. I am personally looking forward to seeing what fight tactics they have drilled into their fighters.

And now finally, I suppose I had best make a prediction!!! (Wheres that fence?!)

One of three things will happen. 1) Haye will come out and KO Klitschko within 5 rounds 2) Klitschko will box from distance with his jab and win either on points/late rounds or 3) Klitschko shocks us all by coming out fast and finishes Haye off early.

I don’t see Haye on points, I really don’t see that happening at all. My fear is that we have another ‘Ricky Hatton v Pac-man’ where we think Hatton is better than he was then gets explosively exposed early on, I really hope that doesn’t happen because I think Haye is great for the division.

Them splinters are still in my arse from that fence!!!

Jay Ross
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