By Dan Ambrose: David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) was not a happy man after losing to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion (56-3, 49 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a fight that Haye really wasn’t ever really in. Haye showed that there is a clear gap between him and Wladimir in terms of talent and there wasn’t much Haye could do against the big Ukrainian that worked with any consistency.

Haye lost by the lopsided scores of 117-109, 118-108 and 116-110, and lost his World Boxing Association heavyweight title along with it. Haye was convinced that he would win the fight and told anyone who would listen how much better he was compared to Wladimir in the weeks before the fight.

Haye had fully been prepared to retire if he had won the fight and if Wladimir’s brother Vitali Klitschko was showing no interest in fighting him before Hayes 31st birthday in October, which is when Haye planned on retiring. However, things didn’t go well for Haye and the loss to Wladimir doesn’t seem to be sitting right with him now.

Haye says a major reason why he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do against Wladimir was because Haye had injured his little toe on his right foot three weeks prior to the fight. This kept Haye from fighting Wladimir at his best because he couldn’t push off with his right leg when he would throw his right hand hayemakers. It also may have contributed to Haye falling down a lot in the fight, something that eventually cost him when the referee ruled one of his flops as a knockdown.

Haye said this to AFP: “I said I would retire in October, but I would be disappointed to go out on a loss. Wladimir boxed the perfect fight. He used his size and reach. I wasn’t able to land my shots partly because he has good defense…I’d love to fight him when I’m 100% fit. I proved I am a genuine heavyweight champion. I took a few shots and I proved a lot of people wrong”

Wladimir wasn’t happy either with his performance and was disappointed that he didn’t knock Haye out, but he said it was hard to do with Haye moving around so much and not coming to fight him. Wladimir would likely be interested in a rematch with Haye because it would still be the biggest fight out there for him even if it makes less money the second time around. However, an immediate rematch is unlikely because Wladimir will have to defend one of his belts soon against either the IBF or WBO mandatory contender. The only out of this would be if he paid one of the contenders a step aside payment to allow him to fight Haye again.