Will fans pay to see David Haye again?

By Boxing News - 08/01/2011 - Comments

Image: Will fans pay to see David Haye again?By John F. McKenna (McJack): Apparently former World Boxing Association (WBA) champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) still doesn’t get it. He continues to say that the only way he will fight again is if it is against Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s). “Dr. Steelhammer” took “The Hayemaker’s” WBA championship belt on July 2. The only belt Vladimir does not have is the WBC belt that belongs to his brother Vitali.

David Haye needs a reality check. It is clear to most boxing fans that Haye talked his way into his title shot with Klitschko. He not only got the title shot, he got a 50-50 split of the revenue. The con job Haye put over on his loyal fans was so good that in England he was actually favored to win the fight.

As the old saying goes, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Does David Haye really believe that boxing fans will pay money again to see him run around the ring from Vladimir Klitschko? And what promoter of sound mind would front the money to put on such a fight? It would be incredibly difficult to sell another Haye – Klitschko fight.

Apparently David Haye does not want to face the cold hard reality that in order for him to get another title shot at Vladimir, he would have to beat a couple of top ten contenders who have name recognition. Chris Arreola and Tomasz Adamek come to mind. The problem with taking on either of those opponents is that he may lose after which the opportunity for a Mega Bucks fight would vanish.

It is this writer’s opinion that David Haye does not want to retire with the legacy of his pitiful performance against Vladimir Klitschko to remember for the rest of his life.
And I never really believed that he was going to follow through with the claim that he would retire on his 31st birthday.

Haye does have one other option and as they do in politics when facing something very unpleasant we could refer to it as his “nuclear option”. The option that Haye never really wanted to face was that of fighting Vladimir’s 39 year old brother Vitali.

Vitali has made no secret that he wants to “send David Haye to the floor,” as he puts it. David Haye angered the elder Klitschko with all his trash talking, his smack talk and in particular the infamous severed heads tee shirt incident. There is genuine animosity between Vitali Klitschko and David Haye and what better way to sell a fight than to have them show up at a press conference glaring at each other.

Promoters could conceivably sell the fight between David Haye and Vitali Klitschko.
Vitali is after all now 39 years old and theoretically he should be slowing down (although truthfully I have not seen that). David Haye is difficult to hit and it may be difficult for Vitali to hit him squarely.

To be honest though, the best selling point of a David Haye – Vitali Klitschko fight would be that many boxing fans just want to see Vitali “send David Haye to the floor.”



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