BoxRec

David Haye must come out shooting from the lip

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By Barry Mcguigan 7/08/2010
David Haye (Pic:PA)

Expect some fireworks from David Haye this week on his return from America. He needs to land a hit.

Here is a man who played the PR game brilliantly to drive interest in a showdown with the Klitschkos.

He walked into their German den in April last year wearing a T-shirt depicting their severed heads hoist high in his hands.

He even referred to the younger brother as Vladimir "Bitchko", bold stunts that made the boxing world sit up, evoking some of the more outrageous tactics employed by Muhammad Ali in his pomp.

It was all about forging a profile and drumming up business at the box office.

In the end it came to nothing when Haye pulled out of the scheduled bout with Vladimir in Germany last June, citing a back injury. There is no doubt that a bout between either of the Klitschkos and Haye is the only one that matters in heavyweight boxing at the moment.

His silence following the latest slurs out of the mouth of Vladimir last week risks a momentum swing towards Ukraine.

Ac c o r d i n g t o Vladimir, Haye is running scared.

While we can safely dismiss that notion, it is fair to question Haye's tactics.

If I were him I would take the fight tomorrow.

I know very well that boxing is a business, and that he wants to maximise his returns.

But maybe he needs to consider the risks of hanging about. The Ks are not getting any younger.

Haye needs to be taking them on while they constitute a clear and present danger.

The money goes down if either should lose. While that is unlikely on paper with Vladimir taking on Samuel Peter next and Vitali considering a fight with Shannon Briggs, anything can happen in this game.

Vladimir was routed by South African puncher Corrie Sanders and posted further unexpected losses a g a i n s t R o s s Puritty and Lamon Brewster.

Haye has an o u t s t a n d i n g chance against either brother. H e w a s perhaps fortunate to get the nod against Nikolai Valuev last November in his first big test since moving up to heavyweight from cruiser.

It was nevertheless an audacious step and served its p u r p o s e b y intriguing the boxing world. Against John Ruiz in April he gave an assured display to retire the Porto Rican veteran and bolster his credentials as a fully fledged heavyweight.

The last thing he needs at this stage is to be beating up on journeymen - whatever the reason.

The impasse with the Klitschkos is all about money. They are backed by German broadcaster RTL. Haye has an association with a rival company in Germany as well as Sky over here.

The Klitschkos insist on RTL taking the fight and splitting the total pot down the middle.

If that is the case, Haye wants to keep the Sky money himself while surrendering all claims to the RTL pot.

Haye might have to give ground. He is looking at up to four alternative opponents in November, one of whom is Audley Harrison.

While that might have domestic value and earn both of them a few quid, it will not advance his application to enter the Boxing Hall of Fame.

It would be a shame were Haye to let the initiative slip. He has been on the front foot all the way.

It is time to start punching again. In and out of the ring!

Don't forget my website: www.barrymcguigan.com

Barry always gives a good view of things.

I dont think Haye is ducking the klits because he's scarred. But he's certainly been avoiding the fights so far this year for some reason and i dont think anyone can work out what the hell it is! Even the big fans are starting to get impatient.

He needs to come back loud mouthed again.

If rumours milling around are true and Audley Harrison is the man in the opposite corner to David Haye on November 13 in Manchester, que sera, sera.
Haye was tied to a mandatory defence of his WBA heavyweight title earlier this year against gutsy American John Ruiz, who was eliminated in nine one-sided rounds in Manchester, so Haye is entitled to a soft second defence, a voluntary defence. Yes, the fans want to see the Bermondsey Bomber in there with one or both of the Klitschkos, Vitali and Wladimir, and there is real frustration at the choice of Harrison, a big, 38-year-old southpaw from Wembley with tiny fists and a fragile mind, but Muhammad Ali fought Rudi Lubbers and Jean-Pierre Coopman, Larry Holmes picked on Scott Frank and Lorenzo Zanon, Joe Louis devoured bums on a monthly basis and don’t get me started on the kind of opponents that the Klitschkos continue to play with.
Harrison also found himself scraping the barrel last year in Prizefighter but comes off a spectacular last-gasp knockout of Reading’s little Michael Sprott to win the vacant European heavyweight title. He got lucky, very lucky. Firstly, a rugged Pole, who would have chased Harrison right out of the ring, relinquished the title, then Sprott was just two minutes away from the title himself when a desperate Harrison found the target in the 12th round, and thirdly, the title secured Harrison an automatic world ranking, which led to this shot at the big one. From Prizefighter to world heavyweight title challenger: such is boxing in the 21st century.
Harrison is the Joe Bugner of his era, a frustratingly reluctant performer even with big physical advantages over his opponents. Harry Mullan once wrote of Aussie Joe: "…it looked to me like the old, familiar Bugner pattern of 20 seconds work followed by 30 seconds of mauling." This was before Bugner conned his way to a fight with Frank Bruno in London in 1987, for which he scaled more at the weigh-in than when he had arrived in the country. Harrison’s history follows the same head-shaking, dreary pattern as he uses the ring to avoid any exchanges and is outhustled by those who simply want it more. Belfast’s Martin Rogan stepped out of his cab to do just that in Manchester in 2008, but Harrison, booed out of the ring, managed to win Prizefighter last year against a trio of novices, prior to his shaky Sprott win.
Harrison’s chin, unlike Bugner’s, is seriously suspect and you wonder if he fights like he fights, throwing a handful of pitty-patty punches per round before getting on his bike, because he has no faith in his ability to hold a big shot. Sprott, an inconsistent performer on the European circuit and hardly a puncher in the Haye league, rocked him a few times and had previously poleaxed him with a sharp left hook. You can argue that Audley showed character to avenge that crushing setback, and he also avenged a disappointing loss to Danny Williams, in which he was down again, but this is a man who clearly needs second chances, and world heavyweight champions don’t give second chances. They do it on the first take.
Haye has jumped on and finished all but two of his 24 victims since turning pro as a cruiserweight in 2002, shrugging off his only defeat at the hands of Bolton iron man Carl Thompson in 2004 to wrest the undisputed world cruiserweight title with thumping stoppages of Jean-Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli, before graduating to WBA heavyweight honours with an easy decision over Russian mammoth Nikolai Valuev last November in Germany, wobbling Valuev in the last round. He joined Evander Holyfield as a former cruiserweight star to make it among the giants and Haye’s age - 29 - gives him plenty of time to ready himself for those Klitschkos.
Harrison poses little or no threat to Haye’s aspirations. Audley is quick but only in spurts, and it took him nine rounds to stop Polish brawler Tomasz Bonin, a man whom Haye destroyed in 105 seconds, which is not a case of styles make fights, believe me. Haye is just as quick as Harrison and much the more powerful, much the more aggressive, much the stronger mentally. You can understand why people don’t like the match, but I would rather see Haye tee off on Harrison in front of 20,000 who 'know' the fighters than on someone like blubbery Chris Arreola. Harrison is still milking his Olympic success 10 years after the event. The time is more than right for Haye to hurl the gold medal into the river.

Harrison will KO Haye, just wait and see children.

I don't think he needs to come back loud mouthed again, actually its the opposite. He needs to shut that big mouth of his and return as a humble champion, stop talking all that rubbish and simply fight, do everything he did at CW and apply it at HW.
Fight, Arreola, fight Chambers, fight Peter, fight Adamek, fight Chagaev, fight Thompson and most of all fight the Klitschko's before they get too old.
Anything else is just BS, fans are just fed up with the talking, we need to see the walking.

Raff The Frenchman wrote:I don't think he needs to come back loud mouthed again, actually its the opposite. He needs to shut that big mouth of his and return as a humble champion,

Yeah! that ALWAYS sells tickets!!!!


Come watch Humble-Bum-Haye!!!! tickets only 50 quid each!!!!

Dave Clark "So David, what do you think of your upcoming fight with Chris Areola*?"


David Haye "Well he is ok, he might win, but then again i think i might too"

Dave Clark "So are you excited?"


David Haye "Yes and no (sighs, then gazes into the distance).................mainly no"


Dave Clark "well there you go folks David Haye Vs Chris Avlerola or whatever he's called, £14.99 order now using the red button!!"

David Haye (off camera) "was that 'humble' enough, Dave?"

























*deliberate misspelling folks

Raff The Frenchman wrote:I don't think he needs to come back loud mouthed again, actually its the opposite. He needs to shut that big mouth of his and return as a humble champion

Why? This is what boxers do, it's called self-publicising. The sport would be alot more boring if everyone was humble (imagine a humble Ali or SRL)

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:Harrison will KO Haye, just wait and see children.

Harrison in with a proper Banger like Haye? Audley will be terrified.

Khaosai-Galaxy - v-funny
bennie - why the 5000 word comment? You got too much time on your hands fella...

Chambers2 wrote:

Raff The Frenchman wrote:I don't think he needs to come back loud mouthed again, actually its the opposite. He needs to shut that big mouth of his and return as a humble champion

Why? This is what boxers do, it's called self-publicising. The sport would be alot more boring if everyone was humble (imagine a humble Ali or SRL)

surely it's about what they do in the ring that's the exciting bit?

If Haye ends up in a ring against Audrey he will come under some serious fire from the UK public. If he had entered into the heavyweight division quietly and had still taken on Valuev and Ruiz nobody would probably care too much if he chose someone like Audrey next, (although even then I suspect they would). However you dress it up, he called out both Klitschkos and sold the world the potentially 'biggest fight in the HW division for years' and now he seems to be actively avoiding it. It doesn't matter how justified he feels he is rejecting both Klitschkos offers from a business point of view, he seems to have forgotten that the business part is the UK public. And the UK public are remembering all too clearly Haye running around airports chasing down both Klitschkos, insulting them at every opportunity and almost begging for the fights for next to no financial reward, just last year. So to hear that he is now rejecting all offers from them primarily over some TV rights is unfortunately gaining more worldwide sympathy for the Klitschkos than him. Haye has got to remember where his 'big' money is coming from these days and if he's not to careful this could completely backfire on him.

It's certainly almost impossible to find any positive comments about a Haye Harrison fight anywhere on the internet. If he refuses to take on either Klitschko then he should be fighting Povetkin or Adamek.

Vladimir Vladimir Vladimir.... It's feckin Wladimir

Garry McGuigan !

Chambers2 wrote:

Raff The Frenchman wrote:I don't think he needs to come back loud mouthed again, actually its the opposite. He needs to shut that big mouth of his and return as a humble champion

Why? This is what boxers do, it's called self-publicising. The sport would be alot more boring if everyone was humble (imagine a humble Ali or SRL)

Why? I said it in my post, because he's already talked way too much shit and hasn't backed it up. Ali sure did a lot of trash talking, but then he delivered inside the ring. People are no longer interested in trash talking from Haye, they wanna see him fight.

G0mez wrote:Vladimir Vladimir Vladimir.... It's feckin Wladimir

Garry McGuigan !

I was a fan of that noted Spanish-Irish boxer Varry McGuigan.

Meanwhile: "humility" and "lack of confidence" are not synonymous. "Charisma" and "acting like a tit" are not synonymous either.

Now, in Haye's case he has the charisma to act like a tit and make it funny (well... I think he's funny, anyway), but there's no reason why it has to work out like the imaginary either/or example above if a boxer decides not to do the circus bit.