Wladamir Klitschko calls out David Haye
After about 10 years of nothing happening the cobwebs have finally been blown off the heavyweight division. Ever since Lennox Lewis retired, Vitali and Wladamir Klitschko have had a monopoly on the entire weight-class.
The Ukrainians must have been having a whale of a time hand-picking second-rate boxers to dismantle at their leisure. Between them they have systematically racked up all the major belts in no time and have had the cosiest reign of any boxer in the heavyweights since professional boxing began.
However a young desperado named David Haye wandered into town and threatened to derail the Klitschko cartel. The brothers have been mocked, insulted and threatened from afar by “The Hayemaker”, clearly they have decided that enough is enough. In a sensational move Wladamir has issued a very public message for Haye, calling him out in the form of a homemade video posted on his Facebook page.
What the heavyweight champion of the world is doing with a Facebook page I don’t know, you can’t exactly imagine Muhammad Ali updating his status and tagging photo’s. Anyway it is quite a remarkable thing for Klitschko to do. Filmed in arty black and white, it is a single shot of Klitschko’s face as he proceeds to deliver a warning to Haye in an ice-cold fashion, a villainous brogue that would be well suited to a Hollywood film.
"I want to send this message to boxing fans and directly to David Haye.
"David, you've bitched out on fighting both Klitschko brothers twice already and now's the time to make it happen. On behalf of boxing fans around the world, I'm officially calling you out to fight me. You can't run away from me forever if you want to be respected. I'm ready. What're you waiting for?"
Is it an antagonising ploy or a publicity stunt? Maybe even an attempt to launch an acting career? Who knows, but the gauntlet has well and truly been thrown down.
The fights that Haye “bitched out on” were the aborted June bout against Wladamir last year, following a back injury and a prospected clash with Vitali that Haye turned down in order to fight Nicolay Valuev.
It was in the build-up to the cancelled fight last June where Haye initially infuriated “Dr Steelhammer” and “Dr Ironfist”. At the time Haye was fresh out the cruiserweights and despite unifying the division he was perhaps not that well known internationally. That soon changed when he challenged the top dogs, and then rolled into the subsequent press conference sporting a rather fetching t-shirt depicting a cartooned version of himself holding the decapitated heads of both brothers. That’s one way to make friends.
The fight was building-up nicely but then all of a sudden Haye pulled out with a back injury. It was quite a meek ending after all of Haye’s trash-talking and to the Klitschko’s and many boxing fans around the world it looked like The Hayemaker was ducking them.
There is no denying that you need to be a hundred per cent fit to box, however it might also be worth noting that Haye had a deal with the now defunct Sentanta Sports TV station, which at that time was going all Enron. Had Haye fought Klitschko there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have made much money from the fight as a result of Sentanta going bust. You don’t want to be fighting a Klitschko if you’re not going to make a lot of money; it’s as simple as that. Haye is also something of a businessman and entrepreneur, he’s no idiot and if he thought he could get a better deal in the future he would take it, even if it meant losing a bit of face. As for Valuev instead of Vitali, Haye was only fighting his third fight at 200lbs; you don’t run before you walk.
Now the Klitschko’s are desperate to fight him for their own credibility, they haven’t had a worthy opponent since Lewis back in 2003. Haye is the most marketable; most exciting boxer the division has seen, maybe since Mike Tyson. It’s almost like they need Haye more than he needs them, despite the fact that they are current champions. Shouldn’t they be the ones being called out not the other way round?
The old adage “be careful what you wish for” springs to mind. The Klitschko’s may dominate, but they are aging and haven’t been challenged in donkey’s years. Vitali has always been about his strong jab, he closes down the ring and jabs, boring but it’s the style that took him to the top. However at 38 years old he’s no spring chicken and you will need to do more than jab to beat Haye as Ruiz discovered. Meanwhile Wladamir has always been the less impressive fighter of the duo; he has the size of Vitali but lacks the jab and shot selection. He struggles to close down fights, has been knocked-out by three substandard boxers and realistically Haye would set about him like nobody’s business.
Let’s face it, Haye is younger, he moves like a middleweight, has a superb KO rate and tremendous hand speed. It’s not so much can the Klitschko’s beat him, more how can the Klitschko’s beat him? The winds of change are blowing through the biggest division and Haye is set to clean-up, it’s just a matter of time. Haye has clearly got the Klitschko’s well and truly rattled, but they haven’t seen anything yet.
Wait until we send over Audley Harrison.
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