By John F. McKenna (McJack): Numerous news articles are circulating today that former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) will forego renewing his boxing license and opt to retire. The “Hayemaker” has been telling everyone who would listen for the past two years that he would retire upon his 31st birthday which is this Thursday, October 13.

But this is David Haye we are talking about. David is a good talker and a great self promoter. He basically talked his way into a fight with multi championship belt holder Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) on July 2nd. Haye’s pre fight hype was so good that the betting odds in Great Britain actually favored him.

In reality Haye had no business being in the same ring with Vladimir. Apparently Haye himself realized that once he stepped into the ring with “Dr. Steelhammer” because he looked anything but the fighter he had portrayed himself to be to the media.

The fight consisted of the “Hayemaker” flopping to the canvas almost every time Wladimir approached him. At first the referee seemed to be buying into David’s antics when he deducted a point from Klitschko for pushing Haye, which resulted in David flopping to the canvas.
Eventually even the referee caught on that Haye was playing a game when he declared one of the flops a knockdown. At that point school was out for David.

To make matters worse, after his humiliating one sided loss Haye took off his shoe to expose an injured pinky toe as if that was the reason he had lost to Wladimir. Nobody bought the excuse, not even the Brits who had so fervently supported David.

It is clear now that Haye’s secret strategy to defeat “Dr. Steelhammer” was to get inside his head and get him to crack. As trainer Teddy Atlas so ingloriously puts it he wanted to take Vladimir to a “weaker place”. That strategy failed abysmally. Haye was forced to resort to plan “B”. The flop downs were a part of a strategy it was hoped would force Wladimir out of his game plan and possibly have a point or two deducted. It became obvious that David was looking for points deductions when he would glance over at the referee after each flop down. Unfortunately for Haye none of his strategies worked.

During a recent vacation in the Caribbean with his family Haye did some soul searching and after talking with former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis he decided that he would fight WBC champ Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO’s) if given the opportunity. Apparently David was emboldened by his discussions with Lewis who supposedly gave him tips on how to beat Vitali.

After his TKO win over Tomas Adamek on September 10 Vitali indicated that he wanted to fight Haye so that he could knock him out. Haye indicated at that time that he would extend his retirement date so that he could take on Klitschko. But there has been no communication from the Klitschko camp for a couple of weeks and earlier this week Haye stated that if he did not hear anything back from Vitali by October 13 he would retire. Today Haye decided to jump the gun.

It is doubtful if David Haye, still in his prime can spend the rest of his life with the memory of his dismal performance against Wladimir Klitschko. If there is one thing that is certain about David Haye it is his uncertainty. It is difficult to imagine him out of the limelight he so desperately craves. The flashbulbs popping and the media hanging on to your every word is addictive and just like every other addiction it has to be fed.

In this writers view boxing fans have not heard the last of David Haye. It’s similar to when a politician runs for president and loses. As the saying goes, once you’ve been bitten by the presidential bug you are infected for life. The desire never leaves you. The same rule applies to heavyweight boxing champs. David Haye has been bitten by the bug.