Haye fails to deliver in horrible performance against Klitschko

By Boxing News - 07/03/2011 - Comments

Image: Haye fails to deliver in horrible performance against KlitschkoBy Scott Gilfoid: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye as supposed to have delivered a shocking knockout against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday night or at the very least a two or three knockdown performance in winning a decision. Instead, Haye fought passively and wound up losing an embarrassingly one-sided 12 round decision to Klitschko at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

Minus a knockout win, Haye should have fought tooth and nail and gone on his shield in trying to get a knockout win against the 6’6” Klitschko. What we from Haye wasn’t an impressive performance but that was purely safety first in Haye just trying to survive and not get hit. And instead of just owning up to his defeat after the fight, Haye said that he had broken his little toe on his right foot three weeks before the fight and the injury hindered Haye from throwing his right hand bombs.

The excuse that Haye gave reminded me a lot of the excuse that Haye had given for his poor performance against the big and slow Nikolay Valuev in 2009. In that fight, Haye threw on average little more than 10 punches per round, and after the fight Haye said he had injured his right hand in the 2nd round of the fight after hitting Valuev on the top of his head.

This is very similar to the Klitschko fight tonight, because Haye averaged only 6 punches landed and 24 punches attempted per round or the entire fight. Here’s Haye’s punches landed in the following rounds: 5th round – six; 6th round – six; 7th round – seven; 8th round –four; 9th round – five; 10th round – 1. Those are simply terrible numbers and it showed that Haye’s whole game was to lunge with big right hand and try to take Wladimir.

It was very, very amateurish to watch Haye, because he looked like a novice. Haye would feint with his left and then toss a looping right hand that missed most of the time and left him off balance. If this is all that his trainer Adam Booth has taught him after all these years then it’s very said. There was no combination punching whatsoever from Haye, and this was a must if he wanted to beat a skilled fighter like Klitschko.

It was incredible how much Haye had overestimated his own ability before the fight, promising an easy knockout win over Wladimir. Haye seemed to be cocky in an unhealthy way that didn’t seem like he had his feet firmly planted in reality. Wladimir promised to give Haye some reality therapy in this fight and he came through with his promise by dominating Haye. However, instead of realizing that he’s not as good as he thought he was, Haye was putting the blame for his defeat on an injured toe after the fight, saying that he couldn’t fight the way he wanted to because of the injury. Haye said that he would like to fight Wladimir again once he’s 100 percent.

What happened to Haye retiring in October? Looks like Haye has changed his mind about retiring after this poor performance. Who in their right mind would want to see Haye fight Wladimir again is the real question. I don’t see this as a fight that sells. Haye would need to redeem himself by facing two or three live contenders and look good enough for boxing fans to forget how terrible he looked against Klitschko.



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