Are any Brits supporting Wlad?

[Captain Hook]

I just can't see him retiring in October, he loves the limelight too much.

[Glyn Leach]

Neither can I Hooky, but some people tell me he's mental enough to do that!

[Andypittcov]

I think he'll retire and doss around Hollywood for a couple of years only to discover he's a small fish in a big pond who isn't getting the big breaks. Then Mr Davidhaye boxer will return.

[apophenic]

if he beats em both no way will he retire....the potential financial rewards would be far too great...

[tonyevs]

Haye was an exciting fighter only in the early part of his career. Certainly not since his move to heavyweight.

I really don't understand how people say he is exciting to watch now. In the Valuev contest he stunk - ran for eleven and a half rounds, landed one big punch ....and somehow got the verdict. I challenge anybody to namel me a worse heavyweight title fight - well maybe his Audley fight wins...
All the critism went to Audley that night .. But he wasn't the only one reluctant to throw punches early on.

I will be cheering on Wlad. He may be robotic, rather boring inside & outside the ropes. But he is a good role model for boxing.
The old timers would respectfully shake hands before a fight. Even the vicious Harry Greb would do so. So why do these pathetic types like Haye feel the need to trash talk and refuse to give opponents respect?

hype ... and at heavyweight - thats all Haye has been.

[stujones]

re the nationalistic angle, would it not be good for britain if haye wins essentially the sport's biggest prize?

And then instantly devalues it (even further) by binning it? It'd be great for the country if he was to hang around and defend it, but winning it and ditching it would be pointless IMO. And career-wise a terrible move as this will only be the second Haye fight to be shown in America, where he has said he wants to become a film star. One win over Wlad, who no one seems to rate anyway (remember, he's very much damaged goods as far as the US market is concerned), won't make Haye the major star he seems to think he will be. A couple of defences, even if they're against Arreola and Adamek (after Vitali's trashed him), and Haye's profile would be raised tenfold in the market he wants to conquer outside boxing.

Not sure if a couple of defences against guys who have been trashed will help to be honest. A fight against the "trasher", the better Klitchsko would certainly help. I would say a victory over Bernard Hopkins, hell even Roy Jones, might be worth more than Arreola for sure. Adamek has pedigree and can always blame the size for the defeat - so there is a market for that fight, whatever happens late summer - but I think Arreola will be seen just as a slightly more worthy fight than A force.

Klitchsko's have tried, they've beaten the "best" American have had - they've gone down the defending champions and former champions' route. Tried their luck with established ex cruiserweight champions, tried unbeaten prospects, tried fighters on good runs - still no real stateside following. I think what we need to say is the heavyweight title is no longer the greatest title in the sport, that surely now belongs to the mythical P4P title (you can only see that in interviews - eveyone talks about P4P title).

I think the only time the heavyweight champion will get the recognition he deserves is when there is a challenger out there that looks the part coming through. We need a new Tyson essentially, but must look the part also - so for me thats Perez and Chisora out of it. Another Haye would be great.

[Glyn Leach]

We're not talking rational people Stu, we're talking Americans and their limited worldview. They'd need to see more of him against fighters they know, irrespective of their true status IMO.

[doctorboxing]

The old timers would respectfully shake hands before a fight. Even the vicious Harry Greb would do so. So why do these pathetic types like Haye feel the need to trash talk and refuse to give opponents respect?

hype ... and at heavyweight - thats all Haye has been.

Sure, shaking hands and showing respect demonstrates what a nice guy you are but does it sell PPVs and make you money? I am quite sure Haye cares more about that than being perceived as classless. You have to remember that Ali was the master of disrespect and trash talk long before Haye.

All Haye has been is hype??

He debuted with a 1 round KO of a 37-1 opponent (albeit his record was deceiving)
He then stopped Monte Barret (after knocking him down multiple times) quicker than Wlad, Rahman or Valuev managed
He won the WBA title with a tactically spot-on (albeit boring) performance against a 50-1 Valuev
He became the first man to stop John Ruiz after knocking him down multiple times (edit - apart from Tua's 1996 1st round KO)
He destroyed the overmatched Audley Harrison

So his record at heavyweight is 5-0 with 4 KO's. The only man he hasn't stopped has only lost one fight in 51 and wasn't stopped.

Say what you like about calibre of opponents etc. but Haye has been exciting at heavyweight and proved he is a top-level fighter worthy of a shot at someone like Wlad. He is far from "just hype".

[tonyevs]

doctorboxing - you seriously need to edit your last post

[Captain Hook]

Why, because he disagrees with you?

You just said Haye v Valuev was the worst HW fight of all time, bar Haye v Audley.

Have you seen most of Wlad and Vitali's fights, Tony?

They're more pedestrian than Norwich city centre

(one for all you Alan Partridge fans out there)

[stujones]

We're not talking rational people Stu, we're talking Americans and their limited worldview. They'd need to see more of him against fighters they know, irrespective of their true status IMO.

True, but it hasn't worked for the Klitchsko's really. Vitali smashed Arreola in quite a good fight, Arreola came out of that with positives also - but his next fight? Back in Europe with no US TV.

I agree, but I think they need to see him in with a fighter who they think will beat him - Adamek maybe, but seriously I think more people would give BHop a chance than Arreola.

[ALI]

Genuinely surprised at the amount of posters who have expressed a dislike for Haye — not saying they're wrong to dislike him, that's their right, but just surprised they do.

I'll second that. I'm also genuinely surprised at the amount of posters that are portraying Wlad as some sort of white knight in shining armour.

[Finn]

Any Brit or neutral supporting the BIG Boring robot against the exciting British KO specialist needs their head looking at

IMO

Times 2 - brits supporting wlad just highlights the problems this country has. A land of people who want to see a confident person fail. Nothing we brits love more than for someone riding high to take a fall.

HAYE all the way!!!!!!

On another note if wlads country and adopted country didnt support him, he probably wouldnt have any fans. Because he's boring as hell.

[jtourettes]

The old timers would respectfully shake hands before a fight. Even the vicious Harry Greb would do so. So why do these pathetic types like Haye feel the need to trash talk and refuse to give opponents respect?

hype ... and at heavyweight - thats all Haye has been.

Sure, shaking hands and showing respect demonstrates what a nice guy you are but does it sell PPVs and make you money? I am quite sure Haye cares more about that than being perceived as classless. You have to remember that Ali was the master of disrespect and trash talk long before Haye.

All Haye has been is hype??

He debuted with a 1 round KO of a 37-1 opponent (albeit his record was deceiving)
He then stopped Monte Barret (after knocking him down multiple times) quicker than Wlad, Rahman or Valuev managed
He won the WBA title with a tactically spot-on (albeit boring) performance against a 50-1 Valuev
He became the first man to stop John Ruiz after knocking him down multiple times
He destroyed the overmatched Audley Harrison

So his record at heavyweight is 5-0 with 4 KO's. The only man he hasn't stopped has only lost one fight in 51 and wasn't stopped.

Say what you like about calibre of opponents etc. but Haye has been exciting at heavyweight and proved he is a top-level fighter worthy of a shot at someone like Wlad. He is far from "just hype".

[tonyevs]

Why, because he disagrees with you?

You just said Haye v Valuev was the worst HW fight of all time, bar Haye v Audley.

Have you seen most of Wlad and Vitali's fights, Tony?

They're more pedestrian than Norwich city centre

(one for all you Alan Partridge fans out there)

re-read his post. And see if you see the glaring mistake ... pm me, and I tell you if you don`t know either

Agreed most of the Klitschkos fights are quite boring .. I did say that earlier.
But they were no way as boring as Haye v Valuev ... I honestly can`t understand anybody saying different. Or name me an example and I will re-watch it.

[Finn]

Any Brit or neutral supporting the BIG Boring robot against the exciting British KO specialist needs their head looking at

IMO

But there is no exciting British KO specialist, he was exciting before stepping up to heavyweight, now he's no more fun to watch than Wlad.

I wouldn't mind seeing Haye win but as has already been pointed out he's likely not going to be around much longer anyway so the division will soon return to the big steaming pile of shit it has been for the last half a decade.

what a load of rubbish, haye's had one boring fight in his whole career, and suddenly he's not an exciting ko specialist. In his las 4 fights he had what 10 knockdowns? maybe more.

[tonyevs]

[thepocketrocket]

Wlad-49 KO's in 55 fight....Vitali-39KO's in 42 fights!....people go on like they are Henry Maske clones!

The problem is that they are both so much better than their peers

[Finn]

I think im with everyone when i say this,but i would love to see haye get knocked out by wlad then land a load of excuses at the end.

Not everyone mate. Alot of us want Haye to win.

Most want haye to win, apart from a band of keyboard warriors. He didnt fill the MEN with 22,000 people booing him, i can guarantee you that. And im pretty sure the 10 thousand or so british fans that will be travelling to germany arent going to watch him loose.

It would be interesting to hear how many of these posters hoping for him to loose are travelling over to support wlad or buying the ppv.

[stujones]

what a load of rubbish, haye's had one boring fight in his whole career, and suddenly he's not an exciting ko specialist. In his las 4 fights he had what 10 knockdowns? maybe more.

Valuev was a dull one, Ruiz wasn't exactly Hagler vs Hearns and Harrison and Maccarinelli were both dull untill one punch changed the fight.

Try 5 Knockdowns in his last four fights. 1 vs Harrison, 1 vs Maccarinelli and 3 vs Ruiz.

[tonyevs]

what a load of rubbish, haye's had one boring fight in his whole career, and suddenly he's not an exciting ko specialist. In his las 4 fights he had what 10 knockdowns? maybe more.

wow

You are easilly pleased.

The Ruiz fight aside from the knockdowns wasn`t overly exciting. Even though Ruiz fought like a novice with his walking in straight lines with low hands
Haye hardly fought like an exciting fighter .. I urge you to re-watch it.

And against Audley.
Audley wasn`t the only gun shy guy in the early rounds. Haye was just as reluctant to let his hands go

[doctorboxing]

[

re-read his post. And see if you see the glaring mistake ... pm me, and I tell you if you don`t know either

Ok, yes I forgot about Tua's KO of Ruiz in 1996, sorry for not checking boxrec records before I post, but everything else in the post stands, including the Ruiz observation.

To say Haye is just hype is crazy, regardless of how you feel about the man himself.

[tonyevs]

[

re-read his post. And see if you see the glaring mistake ... pm me, and I tell you if you don`t know either

Ok, yes I forgot about Tua's KO of Ruiz in 1996, sorry for not checking boxrec records before I post, but everything else in the post stands, including the Ruiz observation.

To say Haye is just hype is crazy, regardless of how you feel about the man himself.

If you needed to check boxrec records 1st ... then I rest my case

[Finn]

Haye was an exciting fighter only in the early part of his career. Certainly not since his move to heavyweight.

I really don't understand how people say he is exciting to watch now. In the Valuev contest he stunk - ran for eleven and a half rounds, landed one big punch ....and somehow got the verdict. I challenge anybody to namel me a worse heavyweight title fight - well maybe his Audley fight wins...
All the critism went to Audley that night .. But he wasn't the only one reluctant to throw punches early on.

I will be cheering on Wlad. He may be robotic, rather boring inside & outside the ropes. But he is a good role model for boxing.
The old timers would respectfully shake hands before a fight. Even the vicious Harry Greb would do so. So why do these pathetic types like Haye feel the need to trash talk and refuse to give opponents respect?

hype ... and at heavyweight - thats all Haye has been.

Wlad v Rahman - challenge complete! . now you name me a worst title fight that doesnt involve a klitschko.

[doctorboxing]

[

re-read his post. And see if you see the glaring mistake ... pm me, and I tell you if you don`t know either

Ok, yes I forgot about Tua's KO of Ruiz in 1996, sorry for not checking boxrec records before I post, but everything else in the post stands, including the Ruiz observation.

To say Haye is just hype is crazy, regardless of how you feel about the man himself.

If you needed to check boxrec records 1st ... then I rest my case

I couldn't remember a KO that happened 15 years ago off the top of my head in one post...... that does not make my opinion that Haye is not "just hype" any less valid.

If I was a unified cruiserweight champion, undefeated at heavyweight with 4/5 of my wins coming as KO and the WBA champion, I would hope that even the most mindless boxing fan could see I was a bit more than just hype.......

Overrated by some maybe, but "just hype"? No.