by Sean Lewis: Last Saturday in Hamburg Wladimir Klitschko defended his heavyweight crown against David Haye of great Britain. The fight was almost universally panned as a lackluster affair by the general public, especially in light of the pre-fight antics by the challenger from the U.K.
Haye’s inability to find a solution to the conundrum that is Dr. Steelhammer turned the “fight to save boxing” into another glorified sparring match with Wlad as the victor. There is no doubt that a great many people were happy with the outcome of the fight. I, unfortunately, am not of that opinion. For me, Haye’s bluster and personality was something that boxing needs to appeal to the general public.
Also, the categorizing by the media of Haye as the foul-mouthed braggart and Klitschko as the gentleman was a necessary story line, but ultimately one that was easy decipher. In reality, I believe that Klitschko was just as guilty as Haye of behaving childishly. The difference was that when Haye chose to talk trash it was entertaining, and when Wlad tried (mostly due to the language barrier) it was cringe worthy.
The feeble attempts at humor with the “shake the magic hand,” the video accusing Haye of bitching out, writing the number 50 on his hand at the weigh-in, calling Haye a child that needs to be taught a lesson, etc. These are not the acts of a gentleman, however, I don’t think we should expect a man who gets paid to knock people unconscious to be gentlemanly.
What is unfortunate is that we need some excitement in boxing and we have a champion who is unable to provide it. Going into the fight I find it hard to believe that anyone really thought Wlad would fight any different than he ever had. His promise to punish David for twelve rounds, and end it with a knockout was basically a pre-fight admission that he did not plan to go for it, but instead would fight cautiously and hope for a good result in the end. Most of his fights go excessively long due to his cautious nature, and this was to be no different. I cannot blame the champ for this. His legacy was at stake, and it would be foolish to do anything out of the ordinary. Since we all knew this we needed a clever story line, and the gentleman vs the “flashy flash” fit the bill.
The reason that boxing loses is that this will always be the case with Wlad. His early knockout losses forever changed him as a fighter. He is as impressive a heavyweight as we have seen in quite some time. Blessed with speed, power, charm, intelligence, along with one of the best trainers in the game. He simply will not strive for greatness, no matter how big the stage. He carried a cruiserweight who belittled him for years 12 full rounds inflicting very little damage. There are those that will say Haye fought in a defensive manner, and I will agree. When you are giving up nearly 40 pounds and 5 or 6 inches in height you will fight defensively.
My problem with this is Wlad allowed him to fight defensively without ever trying to take him out. How many of Mike Tyson’s opponents tried to fight defensively? We all remember how that usually worked out. Wladimir will fight on, and continue to win in the same fashion. He will continue to clinch at the slightest provocation. He will continue to grab fighter’s heads and force them down. He will continue to run backwards arms flailing in the air. We will continue to call this defense. He will continue to bore us, both inside the ring, and out. In the end heavyweight boxing will continue to suffer. Boxing loses, thank you David Haye.
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