by AML: Back in 2004, my parents had decided to take a fortnight holiday to Tenerife, leaving this 21 year old football fanatic to babysit their home. Bored one particular evening, I decided to flick through the TV channels to see if there was anything on the television that could alleviate this problem.
After ten minutes of bypassing some of the worst TV imaginable, I was successful. Never being one for Boxing yet never disrespecting it, it’d always just bypassed me like someone elses car on the motorway. It was just there, yet there was no warm or ill feeling towards it. However, on this particular evening a young 23 year old Bermondsey boy by the name of David Haye was taking on the mighty veteran Carl Thompson in a fight that the experts believed would initiate a changing of the “Cruiserweight” guard.
As every true Boxing fan knows, David Haye gave it his all in early rounds, showing skills and power that rattled his more experienced opponent but never quite finished him off. Inexperience told, tiredness set in and Thompson went onto win. The passion and the drama of this war started something special for me. I’d began a love affair with Boxing and David Haye had gained a new fan. As the years passed, and thrilling nights against Fragomeni, Mormeck, Ruiz, Valuev, Klitschko and Chisora became distant, some pleasureable, and some not so pleasureable memories, a new and for the first time, younger opponent has emerged in the name of Tyson Fury. Unbeaten in 21 contests and sporting a 6ft 9′, 270lb frame with lethal knock-out power in each fist, this surely is the biggest test for David Haye since his 12 round reverse against Wladimir Klitschko in 2011.
Haye, at 6ft 3′ and around 15 stone of lean muscle, has incredible speed, power and agility for a Heavyweight. As Fury himself stated at the press conference announcing the contest, Haye uses “sniper” tactics in the ring. He waits until an opponent misses before unleashing a barrage of firepower that usually ends up with his opponent hitting the canvas. He also uses the ring extremely well to avoid an onslaught by his opponent.
On the flip side to this coin we have Mr Fury. Bold, brutal and without fear, his aim is to draw his opponent into a battle from the first bell, and in the style of his travelling forefathers expects his opponent to match him in the middle of the ring, sometimes at the expense of falling to the floor himself i.e Pajkic, Cunningham fights.
The one thing we can guarantee from Tyson Fury is that his uncle and trainer, Peter Fury will have him in nothing but the best condition for the fight, and he’ll probably have at least a 40lb weight advantage which we saw become so prevalent in his contest against Steve “USS” Cunningham at Madison Square Garden. Cunningham, being of similar build to David Haye showed that a smaller man has the capability of knocking Fury over but tellingly, not being able to finish him off. Will it be a similar tale in Manchester on September 28th?
We must wait and see. To sum up, as stated at the start of the article, I’m a David Haye fan. I find his style entertaining and pleasing to the eye. He’s not afraid of fighting people of any shape and size and welcomes a challenge in his life. Bold, outspoken, brave, courageous and giving, he has the qualities that would make people believe in him, and barring the “little-toe” incident against Klitschko, I have nothing negative to say about the “Hayemaker”.
That being said, I feel exactly the same way towards Tyson and his trainer Peter Fury. They’re quite clearly both men of honour with a strong work ethic and a kindness to their fans (via twitter for example) that is almost unheard of. This kindness, however, must not be mistaken for weakness as their business is the art of pugilism and although I expect David Haye to be victorious on the night, I personally believe it will be his most difficult encounter to date and although I would predict it will be over within five rounds, I also believe that we’re going to see both fighters taking each other to places they’ve never been before.
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