David Haye is running out of time
The trouble with dreams is once you achieve them, where do you go from there?
That is the quandary of WBA champion David Haye. Like so many kids he grew up dreaming of one day being able to call himself the heavyweight champion of the world, but since achieving his goal he has seemed a little bit lost as to what to do next.
It was November 2009 when “The Hayemaker” slayed the giant Nicolay Valuev. He had no option but to take on John Ruiz after that which was always going to be straight forward, but now left to his own devices he seems to have got a little lost.
The first thing Haye spoke of after taking the WBA strap was unifying the titles. However, the much publicised break-up of the Klitschko fight has scuppered that plan.
It would seem Haye has shot himself in the foot slightly. The Klitschko brothers have owned this division for about 10 years while Haye has only been in the unlimited weight class full-time for two years. So perhaps he should have been more accommodating to their requests. If reports and rumours are to be believed the sticking point with a perspective Wladimir Klitschko clash was how they split the TV rights with Haye wanting to keep the British while Klitschko wanted to split the lot.
To be fair this is a decent deal for Haye with a reported 50-50 split of everything else on the table and he should have taken it. He has to remember that although he is popular in Britain, he is not a big enough draw, especially internationally, to get away with defending his title against nobodies on pay-per-view.
It’s looking likely to be Audley Harrison next and the Hayemaker can just about get away with that for novelty value, but people aren’t going to pay to watch him fight washed-up fighters every defence. You could argue Haye got his title quite easily and needs to prove he is worthy with a decent scalp. Obviously right now in the heavyweight that’s pretty hard to come by but the likes of Tomasz Adamek, Ruslan Chagaev, Chris Arreola, and Alexander Povetkin are knocking about and much more worthy challengers than “A-Force”.
Granted none of them really excite but at least they are the best around. The Klitschkos can just about get away with the likes of Samuel Peter and Shannon Biggs, maybe because they have no-one else to face other than Haye and they can’t get him.
Haye needs to make his mind up quick, he needs to sort a fight before next year or risk losing his title. If you work on the basis a fighter needs between two and three months to prepare, Haye hasn’t even sorted a fight against Harrison yet, which will need to be for November and could still easily collapse. After that you can rule out December and January as no one will splash out for PPV around Christmas and new year, maybe February as well. Then he has two months before he must defend his title, with the No.1 WBA contender being Chagaev or he will be stripped of his precious strap.
Really though all anyone wants to see is Haye take on a Klitschko and he needs to bend over backwards to make it happen, for his own legacy and out of respect for the fans and the sport. Only when he beats one of them can he get away with fighting whoever he wants. There is no denying Haye is a skilful exciting talented fighter. He is fantastic to watch, charismatic and could inspire a whole generation of kids to lace up the gloves, but he’s still got a long way to go yet to be held in the regard he would like to be. He has said before he wants to retire after four fights but it’s no good doing that if he hasn’t taken on anyone of a high calibre.
You can’t help but wonder what part manager/trainer/lifestyle guru/biggest fan Adam Booth plays in all this. His appearance and demeanour is that of an over-excited estate agent and he seems to view himself as something in between Mr Miyagi and José Mourinho. In truth he never been in this situation with a fighter before and maybe out of his depth when trying to negotiate these contracts. It’s like he thinks he’s selling a jug of water in the desert but really he’s got ice lolly on a 30-degree day.
Haye might be a heavyweight champion right now, but so were Henry Akinwande and Herbie Hide, if Haye doesn’t want to be held in the same regard as those fighters he needs to take the opportunity while everyone is still watching.
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