The American opinion of David Haye - By Dan Raphael

[markp]

"Ducker David Haye is a joke at this point. I mean, how can you possibly take him seriously? He vigorously called out Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko for about the past two years with some of the most childish antics I've ever seen. The brothers have always been willing to fight him and have legitimately offered to fight him at least three times. (You know, it might even be more. I may have lost count.) Each time, Haye ran way, including just a couple of weeks before a fight with Wladimir that had already been scheduled. Even after Wladimir returned fire at him, essentially daring and begging Haye to fight him, Haye punked again.


The most recent offer was for a fall fight against Wladimir. It was served to Haye on a silver platter with the deal he had asked for -- a 50-50 revenue split with Klitschko's K2 Promotions holding no future options. Haye tried to backtrack on the deal, saying he should keep the British television money for himself, Klitschko getting the German television money and the rest of the pot being divided evenly. But that's not 50-50. Putting all the money into the pot and then splitting it is 50-50. Apparently, Haye and his manager, Adam Booth, are worse at math than they are at making a deal.


So the brothers continue to clean out the division in dominant fashion. You can probably count on one hand the number of rounds they have lost in their last several fights combined, all of which have come against legitimate opponents, excluding Vitali's recent domination of Albert Sosnowski (who, unlike Haye, at least had the courage to get into the ring and fight his butt off as best as he could).


Wladimir will now move on to face Alexander Povetkin, his worthy mandatory challenger, and Vitali continues to pursue a fight with former titlist Nikolai Valuev. Haye has no fight lined up, although there is talk of a match with fellow Brit Audley Harrison, which will be a big deal in England. Everywhere else in the world, it would be about as interesting as a television test pattern."

Emanuel Steward, who trains Wladimir, described Haye perfectly to me recently when we talked about how he was outright ducking the brothers. Steward used the analogy of a little dog barking like crazy at a big dog. While the big dog might ignore the little dog for awhile, eventually the big dog will have had enough and turn its attention toward the little dog, which will cower or run for cover. Haye is the little doggie. All bark. No bite. Filled with hollow words, he's a laughingstock, at least on this side of the pond



---- The Americans do view Haye as a laughing stock due to his ducking of the Klitschkos at the moment. It's difficult to disagree... especially since Haye turned down a 50:50 offter with no options.

[mickey1975]

He's a laughing stock "On this side of the pond".Then what does that make American Heavies?

[Lenny]

Can Haye raise his profile in the UK even more with a victory over Audley Harrison? Does the average sports fan still think of an Olympic gold medalist when Audley is mentioned or do they think of the guy who had some boring easy wins on the BBC only to lose when he steps up (I can't think of a friend who would take Audley seriously, especially the ones who came with me to Harrison v Williams 1).

If the answers to these questions are negative (as much as I'd love to see Haye in with Adamek and Chagaev, the fights will mean nothing to the general public apart from the fact that neither are the guys Haye has been running his mouth off about for the last year and a bit) then he is missing out on maxing out against either brother. I don't think his public profile could be any greater than after the win against the "hairy giant Valuev" and the follow-up knock out win over former champ Ruiz. How many chat shows can he now go on before he is just repeating himself? The public know he has called out the Klitschko's and they get bored easily, especially with a guy who fights twice a year. As much as I like Haye, and as much as I can appreciate the great job he and Booth did in selling the Valuev fight, I fear he is going to miss the boat here

[jimglen]

I get more and more disgusted with this sport that is definitely not a sport at all, and these _uckers that control it are the ones who killed it, yes it's dead!

we the punters desperately wait for "one of a few" handfull of boxers that are the only draw or talent in the whole entire world of boxing - C'mon??? What about the literal hundreds of fighters out there that put in place and allowed the opportunity would over shadow some of these mugs.

I don't know whats going on with Haye vs the Klits,
but I'll state again as I did earlier, Haye is capable of beating these giants, as far as I'm concerned these land of the giant SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHTS are partly whats killing this sport/BUSINESS, _uck em all give them their own division and TRY return boxing into a competitive sport where there's more than a handfull of fighters in the whole world to get excited about!

[funso banjo baby]

who gives a rats about what the US thinks...they are into their kinky wrestling now.

as soon as the Klits have gone , the division will open up again...and the US fighters will have to come to germany and britain to challenge because the domestic scene will be dried up, with only boring megafights with de la hoya and mayweather etc to titilate the bovine herd

[Autobarn]

i'm surprised dan raphael wrote that.

the thing is, no one knows what haye is doing. turns down wlad, ignores audley. it seems like he isn't doing anything boxing related at the moment and maybe there is another reason, that has nothing to do with "ducking."

he either isn't focusing on boxing right now, or he's lining up a fight with vitali klitschko as i see it.

[Raff The Frenchman]

who gives a rats about what the US thinks...they are into their kinky wrestling now.

as soon as the Klits have gone , the division will open up again...and the US fighters will have to come to germany and britain to challenge because the domestic scene will be dried up, with only boring megafights with de la hoya and mayweather etc to titilate the bovine herd

Didn't Haye also state that he would retire in just a few fights?...So when the Klitschko's are retired, and Haye as well, what talent will be left in the HW pool in europe? USA is clearly out of great HW fighters, but europe doesn't either shine with future HOFers...
And by the way, if by "kinky wrestling" you refered to the UFC, it is a real sport now and has nothing kinky to it and I truely wish europe had such an exciting card as UFC116.
So rather than being insulting towards americans why don't you try understanding why they have such opinion? by the way its not just the americans mate, its the entire world laughing off Haye's behavior. Haye has what he diserves, he talked the talk for sure, but never walked the walk, and talk is cheap remember...

[Glyn Leach]

Whether Haye is "ducking" or just not fighting them is a matter of opinion and conjecture which, unfortunately, Haye leaves himself open to by disappearing from the public eye for long periods and just not doing his job - fighting. He has never been a particularly active fighter, especially in recent years. I can understand that at the moment he is more concerned with family matters, that is only natural. However, there is absolutely no reason why a fight — be it against Audley, a Klitschko, whoever — should not have been signed and announced by now. Had that been the case he would have stayed in the public eye even though inactive and there would have been no room for the conjecture he currently suffers from. It's not Haye's style to give a damn about opinions, but to disappear from view is just bad business — in my opinion.

[HomeOfBritishBoxing]

raphael talks kak, he is always lying. klit wanted 55/45 split. and the fight in germany

[Raff The Frenchman]

raphael talks kak, he is always lying. klit wanted 55/45 split. and the fight in germany

sources?

[bad mamma jamma]

raphael can go fk his fat ass with a courgette..he talks bollocks much like the many so call boxing experts around the world that have never fought in their life but think they know it all..but i am not a fan of fighters fighting once or twice a year and haye needs to sort this out, he isnt getting any younger, if i had the chance he had I would have sorted out a harrison fight and fought with a few weeks notice if the klits were not playing ball, at least keep yourself busy David...instead i think we are looking at a september or october fight against fraudley..haye does not need 3 months to prepare for that loser...

and someone mentioned boxing fans are treated like shit, being fed scraps in the hope of some "superfight" happening and waiting years for it (see mayweather - pacman) fer fks sake in the old days mayweather and pac would have fought 3 times by now...loada balls...and as for UFC, even that is losing its appeal...now that fighters are more skilled they are cancelling each other out and we either get a some wrestler layin all over a guy for 15 mins or two excuses for strikers too scared to engage for 15 mins..

haye needs to make a change and fight someone now, as he is in danger of losing credibility and fans if he only fights once a year..i dont care who it is against...and anyway fk the klits, they are shite, fking primo carnera would have done them..they only have 2 punches in their arsenal..wankers

[jizzle]

What is happening with Haye??

One minute he's like dog sh1t in a park and the next he's done a Lord Lucan!!!

[whiskey]

Who cares what this chubby, bearded sod thinks?

He earns a living by churning out these 'articles' ... who honestly would 'pay' him for that turd ?

[DavidPayne]

Who cares what this chubby, bearded sod thinks?

He earns a living by churning out these 'articles' ... who honestly would 'pay' him for that turd ?

ESPN.

[Lightsoot]

How can anyone possibly disagree with what Raphael is saying?

To those who blindly support Haye, what is there to say in his defence? Does he want to fight the Klitschko brothers or not? Has he had the opportunity to fight them before? Are the Klitschkos avoiding him?

If you've answered the above questions, honestly, there is no other possible conclusion that can be concluded other than the one argued by Raphael. Haye and Booth have ALWAYS driven an incredibly hard bargain.

[Jeff Thomas]

Thanks for clearing that up USA.

You are clearly the world experts on modern day heavies.

[whatashambles]

I just can't understand what Haye is doing.
He rejects fights with the Klitschko's, dismisses a fight with Harrison, and all while the likes of Adamek and Arreola get fights lined up.
I could have understood had he fought Harrison this summer in a football stadium and earned big money, what's he waiting for?

[DavidPayne]

I just can't understand what Haye is doing.
He rejects fights with the Klitschko's, dismisses a fight with Harrison, and all while the likes of Adamek and Arreola get fights lined up.
I could have understood had he fought Harrison this summer in a football stadium and earned big money, what's he waiting for?

His baby to sleep through the night.

I share in this brotherhood.

Although, if you put either Klitschko in front of me at 3.30am with 53 minutes of snatched sleep to my name and you told me beating the bigger bugger would mean I could have six hours the next night....I wouldn't back the Ukrainian Mr Bean's.

[FLINT ISLAND]

I just can't understand what Haye is doing.
He rejects fights with the Klitschko's, dismisses a fight with Harrison, and all while the likes of Adamek and Arreola get fights lined up.
I could have understood had he fought Harrison this summer in a football stadium and earned big money, what's he waiting for?

His baby to sleep through the night.

I share in this brotherhood.

Its not just that - Haye is now a mutli millionaire - he can relax a bit - weigh up his options - live comfortable in his Cyprus hideout - enjoying family life with his wife and kids for a bit

He has never been the most active fighter anyway -

He averages about 2 fights per year - so he fought Ruiz this year - another fight maybe in November or something

Right now I thinking he is just taking his time and seeing what the best fight to be made is

Obviously not Wlad though - probaly not Vitali either.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

Calm down lads, Haye has had 3 fights at heavyweight and you are writing his career off on that basis?


Its a sad reflection of society these days, if people cant get what they want IMMEDIATELY, then they turn into raving lunatics, chucking their toys out of the pram at a moments notice.

Its all the iphone's fault


why cant you just effing wait and see what happens before sawing your own leg off in anger and microwaving your cat because Haye isnt fighting Wladimir tomorrow on free TV?

[Spud]

Another thread which is total b*llocks!!!

[Lenny]

Calm down lads, Haye has had 3 fights at heavyweight and you are writing his career off on that basis?


Its a sad reflection of society these days, if people cant get what they want IMMEDIATELY, then they turn into raving lunatics, chucking their toys out of the pram at a moments notice.

Its all the iphone's fault


why cant you just effing wait and see what happens before sawing your own leg off in anger and microwaving your cat because Haye isnt fighting Wladimir tomorrow on free TV?

That's what I was trying to say, people want things immediately. Which people? The people who are more likely to buy his fights that's who.

I think he is in danger of losing his appeal to the general public and therefore earn less money, if he could have fought a brother off the back of the Valuev win with his profile at a high the numbers would have been huge.

[Autobarn]

Calm down lads, Haye has had 3 fights at heavyweight and you are writing his career off on that basis?


Its a sad reflection of society these days, if people cant get what they want IMMEDIATELY, then they turn into raving lunatics, chucking their toys out of the pram at a moments notice.

Its all the iphone's fault


why cant you just effing wait and see what happens before sawing your own leg off in anger and microwaving your cat because Haye isnt fighting Wladimir tomorrow on free TV?

i think it's going to be vitali.

it's hard to read haye right now. audley's beneath him but he didn't get the wlad deal nailed, when wlad was free of any mandatory obligations (at least with the IBF). the way i read it is that haye wants vitali, based on his sluggish showings vs kevin johnson and albert sosnowski (who looked pretty good vs big brother), but mabe isn't 100% focused on boxing right now.

haye and booth seemed to think they had the answer for vitali's style of fighting. vitali is imposing but pretty easy to read. he opens his mouth before throwing a punch. someone with haye's reflexes should throw a piledriver right into his trout pout.

[markp]

Calm down lads, Haye has had 3 fights at heavyweight and you are writing his career off on that basis?


Its a sad reflection of society these days, if people cant get what they want IMMEDIATELY, then they turn into raving lunatics, chucking their toys out of the pram at a moments notice.

Its all the iphone's fault


why cant you just effing wait and see what happens before sawing your own leg off in anger and microwaving your cat because Haye isnt fighting Wladimir tomorrow on free TV?

i think it's going to be vitali.

it's hard to read haye right now. audley's beneath him but he didn't get the wlad deal nailed, when wlad was free of any mandatory obligations (at least with the IBF). the way i read it is that haye wants vitali, based on his sluggish showings vs kevin johnson and albert sosnowski (who looked pretty good vs big brother), but mabe isn't 100% focused on boxing right now.

haye and booth seemed to think they had the answer for vitali's style of fighting. vitali is imposing but pretty easy to read. he opens his mouth before throwing a punch. someone with haye's reflexes should throw a piledriver right into his trout pout.

Haye knows Vitali is fighting Valuev next.

Accept that Haye is ducking the klitschkos. There is no excuse, especially after his childish antics.

[big lennox]

I think the Klitshko's are tough negotiatiors and so is Hayemaker so its never going to be easy to make these fights, but with HBO dropping all interest in showing their fights, the ball is in Haye's court a little bit, as either wlad or vitali will be forced into taking a fight with haye.

Nothing in his career make me think he would back away from fighting them.He enjoys the challange too much.