Haye: Wladimir won’t be helped by fighting at home in Germany

By Boxing News - 06/25/2011 - Comments

Image: Haye: Wladimir won't be helped by fighting at home in GermanyBy William Mackay: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) expects huge crowd of 10,000 Brits to flock to the Imetech Arena in Hamburg, Germany on July 2nd to give him support in his unification bout against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s). Whether 10,000 Haye fans show up or much less than that, Haye’s fans will be greatly outnumbered by Wladimir’s fans and there might not be enough to give Haye much of the support that he’s counting on.

Haye doesn’t think that he’ll be at a disadvantage by fighting in Wladimir’s adopted country of Germany, as Haye points out that he’s beaten the likes of champions Jean Marc Mormeck and Nikolay Valuev by traveling to where they fight to take their titles.

In an article at Sky Sports News, Haye said “He [Wladimir] probably believes that having the fight in Germany’s going to make a difference to him. It doesn’t. I beat Jean-Marc Mormeck in Paris, I beat Valuev in Germany. I’ve traveled before and won. I’ve never traveled abroad and lost.”

Of course, what Haye fails to say is that neither Valuev or Mormeck are anywhere close to being as good as Wladimir. Come on. You put the 5’11” Mormeck in with Wladimir and you’ve got a mismatch. Wladimir would handle Mormeck with ease without really being hit. Haye was on the canvas against Mormeck and there were moments in that fight where you didn’t know who would win. And Haye went life and death with Valuev, barely beating him by a controversial 12 round majority decision. Wladimir would make easy work with Valuev, and there are few people who think otherwise. Haye’s examples of how he’s beaten fighters in their countries doesn’t prove that he’ll be able to do the same with Wladimir because we’re talking about a much better fighter than the guys that Haye has fought his entire career. You can make an argument that many of Wladimir’s opponents on his resume would have been able to beat Haye if given the chance.



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