Wladimir Klitschko Vs David Haye: HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING at its BEST

By Donald C. Stewart

Photo Credit: Public Address – Stefan Hoyer



Day by day it gets closer and the excitement builds. As I am typing this, David Haye has arrived in Germany ahead of the biggest Heavyweight clash since Lennox Lewis was in the fold.

You have to hand it to Wladimir as he has tried to make the fight seem like the clash of his traditional boxing supreme respect campaign against the brutish, uncultured and disrespectful thug – David Haye.

Haye is far from an uncultured brute but he cast himself in this light to get under the skin of both the Klitschkos and all of the trash talking and effective campaigning got him the fight. Now he has gone quiet. Well kind of quiet.

At the SKY TV studios in the UK he refused to appear alongside Klitschko.

Agonizingly disrespectful he disparaged Klitschko and continued to promote the enmity between them. He was bullish and incredibly rude but more importantly the look that Wladimir was giving him was not only anger. It was beginning to move towards fear.

The recent HBO broadcast between them both shows the real Klitschko up against the false Haye. David Haye is a student of the boxing game and there is no way on this earth that what you see is the real him. He is big on tactics though the one way fighting that Klitschko demonstrates actually does offend Haye.

Haye is a student of boxing that has a noble pedigree and not some form of pugilism that denies the people paying the opportunity to marvel at the sight of two fantastic athletes trading their skill until one calls enough. Haye does not, though denigrate fighters willingly. He will do so in order to sell the fight or become the only option. He has sold the fight but he is aware that he now needs to turn the hype into a fantastic fight.

We saw at the Sturm/Macklin fight that Germany likes to applaud a spectacle but this has to be bigger and be better than that. It needs everything to click in ways that heavyweight boxing has been waiting for, for years. This is exciting.

Over the last few weeks and months my heart has ruled my head in calling fights. I wanted Matthew Hatton to beat Salvarez. I actually thought he had a chance. If he couldn’t do it I was convinced that Ryan Rhodes would. Both were caught short and British boxing fell short on the World stage. Macklin in Germany failed to win against a German in a split decision in Germany – will Haye suffer the same fate.

I have always said and believed that Haye would win. I won’t change that feeling now. I feel that David Haye is much more mobile and has the power which Klitschko has not had to face for years. In his corner Haye has a master tactician who has already recently managed to provide a domestic shock when he was in George Grove’s trainer as they brought down Olympic Gold Medalist, James DeGale. Of course this is not a home tie or a domestic dust up. This is the World stage.

Here, however is the main reason why Haye will win. Wladimir Klitschko. Klitschko has one tactic. Wladimir has a glass chin. Wladimir Klitschko is upset and angry. These are three reasons why Klitschko will not retain his belts. They will not trade blows but Haye will outbox and outfox the Ukrainian. I am not alone in thinking this. I am also not alone in talking about it – now that is something HUGELY different from the last few years in the Heavyweight Division.