BoxRec

Haye-Klitschko fight is on

Possible date of June 25 or July 2

IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will face British WBA champion David Haye in a unification bout in Germany this summer.

Haye's manager and trainer Adam Booth told Sky Sports: "We have a deal. We're happy with it, they're happy with it.

"They didn't want to come to the UK for a couple of reasons. David is happy to go anywhere to fight Vladimir... he doesn't care if it's in his back garden. David is raring to go.

"The most likely date is July 2 in Germany, but it may be a week earlier on June 25. We were always confident that this fight would happen."

Klitschko told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper: "I am really pleased that we have closed a deal on this fight."

Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente added that the fight against Haye could take place at one of three football stadiums in Germany - Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen or Kaiserslautern.

Negotiations to stage the unification contest have collapsed several times in the past.

A back injury forced Haye, the WBA champion, to withdraw from a fight with Wladimir Klitschko in 2009. Haye has said he would also like to fight the older Klitschko brother, WBC champion Vitali, before retiring.

On Saturday Wladimir pulled out of a planned title defence against British champion Derek Chisora on April 30, after failing to recover from a torn abdominal muscle.

Vitali defends his WBC heavyweight title against Odlanier Solis on March 19 in Cologne, Germany.

Source: skysports.com

As much as I want to be wrong, I can see Wlad by KO.

Dave is gonna do the job guys. All these years of fat, unmotivated slobs who come in against Wlad and sleepwalk to a decision or late stoppage loss has meant that Wlad will get a rude awakening. Haye is going to throw some serious leather at Wlad, and his speed and accuracy are among the best out there and he has the footwork to close the distance.

There's going to be some hairy moments for sure, but I feel confident Haye will put Wlad into his shell early, and that's half the job done. If Wlad is scared to commit, he could be finding himself in the corner being unloaded on. I would have picked the pre-Sanders Wlad simply because, with his reach advantage he could have landed early. Now with the current Wlad, I doubt he will want to trade early doors, which will give Haye confidence and an advantage, because
Haye will be waiting to throw those crushing, deadly accurate single shots and follow them up with more.

I think Haye's accuracy wins the day here - he always lands, whereas Wlad has lost a little speed over the years.
The problem I see is that Wlad won't be staying down. I don't think Dave can get the job done with one flurry, he has to be relentless and not let Wlad get back into the fight and start working the jab.

This will be a tense night for sure.

Haye wins. Late stoppage or points. (My view, other opinions are available)

If the fight is in Germany, I expect a double header with a Warren card in the UK, probably headlined by Degale v Groves and Chisora in a decent fight. That would be an above average night of boxing.

I'll believe this fight is happening when they are both safely in the ring.

earsjohn wrote:Haye wins. Late stoppage or points. (My view, other opinions are available)

If the fight is in Germany, I expect a double header with a Warren card in the UK, probably headlined by Degale v Groves and Chisora in a decent fight. That would be an above average night of boxing.

I'd be surprised. From Sky's point of view the fight sells itself without any extras needed for the fans.

bfchunk wrote:

earsjohn wrote:Haye wins. Late stoppage or points. (My view, other opinions are available)

If the fight is in Germany, I expect a double header with a Warren card in the UK, probably headlined by Degale v Groves and Chisora in a decent fight. That would be an above average night of boxing.

I'd be surprised. From Sky's point of view the fight sells itself without any extras needed for the fans.

Normally i'd agree, but this could be a concession to smooth over the Wald Chisora pull out. Klitschko fights are renowned for their abysmal undercards, so I expect Sky to plug the gap by having a UK based show as build up.

earsjohn wrote:

bfchunk wrote:

earsjohn wrote:Haye wins. Late stoppage or points. (My view, other opinions are available)

If the fight is in Germany, I expect a double header with a Warren card in the UK, probably headlined by Degale v Groves and Chisora in a decent fight. That would be an above average night of boxing.

I'd be surprised. From Sky's point of view the fight sells itself without any extras needed for the fans.

Normally i'd agree, but this could be a concession to smooth over the Wald Chisora pull out. Klitschko fights are renowned for their abysmal undercards, so I expect Sky to plug the gap by having a UK based show as build up.

I dont EXPECT anything of the sort , why would they when theyve never done it before , but we can Hope .

damianhucker1 wrote:
I dont EXPECT anything of the sort , why would they when theyve never done it before , but we can Hope .

While not exactly the same, sky did khan v fagan with audley v rogan in the evening before oscar v manny (Froch v pascal was on itv that night too) and khan v maidana had warrens Mag 7 revisited card as a taster. Haye v wlad is one of the biggest fights this year and deserves to be part of a big night of boxing, not just a one off, standalone fight.

What we deserve and what we get are two different things. Sky probably will just bloat their coverage with interviews rather than fights.

I'm assuming though the fight will take place at a usual Germany fight time. If it's held later for US TV reasons, then there will be a UK show too. If that's the case - cue Prizefighter!

On another issue, I'm anticipating Haye to be upgraded to Super Champion in the next few weeks. That solves the mandatory situation.

I'm expecting a similar performance from David Haye to the Valuev fight, so I've gone for Haye on points. However I hope I'm wrong and Haye wants to retire with a bang!

Haye wins. Either late KO or on points.

I've believed in his judgement since Enzo. He knew how to play the game with valuev and i believe he's going to come up with the right strategy to beat Wlad. All this waffle about Haye ducking Wlad, it's crap.

I like Wlad, but Haye will win this.

Haye wins by late TKO/knockout. I can see Wladimir standing in the centre of the ring, jab jab jab but haye will cover every inch of the ring and plan his attacks carefully, most likely the last 45secs of each round. Come the 10th round Wlad will get frustrated and Haye will land left hook, right hand and the games a boogie. Won't be a very exciting fight but Haye will win

Haye in the 4th - i reckon he's gonna make Wlad go all wobbly and start sucking his thumb. Then his brother will have to get involved, which I think might be a different matter.

earsjohn wrote:Haye wins. Late stoppage or points. (My view, other opinions are available)

If the fight is in Germany, I expect a double header with a Warren card in the UK, probably headlined by Degale v Groves and Chisora in a decent fight. That would be an above average night of boxing.

I agree with your prediction in respect of a points win for Haye

I have been shot down previously, but I just don't see Wladimir being KOd & something in me makes me think that Haye is going to be a lot more cautious & use his speed to try & win the fight.

OK, if he can work the openings & a KO presents itself, he'll surely go for it, but I don't think he's going to go gung-ho for the knockout, which is what David normally does.

Gooner123 wrote:I'm expecting a similar performance from David Haye to the Valuev fight, so I've gone for Haye on points. However I hope I'm wrong and Haye wants to retire with a bang!

My thoughts also.

David is much more mature in his approach to his fights these days.

I wasn't confident of Haye's chances against Wlad until Haye fought Audley. I know that sounds like the silliest observation of all time, but I watched Haye vs Audley twice (yes, I am that sad) and I was impressed by the way that Haye did very very little offensive work until the moment presented itself. I thought he'd come out at the first bell and go for it, like he did with Monte Barrett, but in that first round against Audley he did very very little - yes the crowd were booing, and yes it was poor for the TV audience too, but on second viewing I was impressed at how David just wouldn't take a risk and walk onto a counter from Audley.

Watching how Haye knocked out Audley (always the only result of that encounter) made me confident that when he fights Wlad, he will be cautious, and wait for the right moment. Wlad is 100000% better than Audley so several rounds might pass before he gets an opening but Haye does have the speed, reflexes and power to blast into Wlad if an opening crops up. He also knows that Wlad will be in trouble, should he connect cleanly.

The other side of the coin is what Wlad will be doing to David as the rounds pass, and if David can take it. Wlad isn't the world champion for no reason, and he can dish it out, but I see Haye being cautious, avoiding punishment, probably slipping the early rounds, but waiting for the moment to pounce.

I think it will be a stinker of a fight until the finish, because Wlad can be ultra cautious if required. Good luck to David

Haye is a natural athlete and thats what i think will hold advantage over Wlad

The difference with the Khan PPV's being loaded with a good undercard is because it is KHAN who is headlining. Sky tried Khan as the stand alone figure vs Prescott and Barrera - and they didn't do well.

Haye did well against Valuev, okay vs Ruiz and I would imagine very well vs Harrison - essentially, given that Ruiz was a relatively tough fight to sell - no really Unique selling point, and had a poor undercard. It shows Haye could fight Peter Buckley and it was generate decent sales

JimJim2009 wrote:I wasn't confident of Haye's chances against Wlad until Haye fought Audley. I know that sounds like the silliest observation of all time, but I watched Haye vs Audley twice (yes, I am that sad) and I was impressed by the way that Haye did very very little offensive work until the moment presented itself. I thought he'd come out at the first bell and go for it, like he did with Monte Barrett, but in that first round against Audley he did very very little - yes the crowd were booing, and yes it was poor for the TV audience too, but on second viewing I was impressed at how David just wouldn't take a risk and walk onto a counter from Audley.

Watching how Haye knocked out Audley (always the only result of that encounter) made me confident that when he fights Wlad, he will be cautious, and wait for the right moment. Wlad is 100000% better than Audley so several rounds might pass before he gets an opening but Haye does have the speed, reflexes and power to blast into Wlad if an opening crops up. He also knows that Wlad will be in trouble, should he connect cleanly.

The other side of the coin is what Wlad will be doing to David as the rounds pass, and if David can take it. Wlad isn't the world champion for no reason, and he can dish it out, but I see Haye being cautious, avoiding punishment, probably slipping the early rounds, but waiting for the moment to pounce.

I think it will be a stinker of a fight until the finish, because Wlad can be ultra cautious if required. Good luck to David

You've taken the words right out of my mouth.

Since Haye's fight with Valuev, I've always thought this is how he'd approach a fight with any of the fighting doctors.

It would be suicidal for him to go in & try & tear Wladimir's head off.

Like you have said, he even adopted this approach against the next to useless Audley Harrison, so it's highly likely that he'd do the same against the far superior Wladimir.

I certainly think he'll look to pounce if he gets Wladimir shaken up, but Wladimir is not a useless lump like Audley Harrison, so it's very unlikely that Haye is going to KO him cheaply like he did with Harrison.

I also expect this fight to be quite dull, but I hope Haye can do it & I hope he can prove me wrong by taking out Wladimir too.

Hayes speed I feel will catch Wlad cold and we will see a quick KO, inside 3.

Newport Daz wrote:As much as I want to be wrong, I can see Wlad by KO.

I very much hope you are wrong & I for one think you will be proved wrong!

I see Haye going for it, a bit rapid!

rockyrandall2 wrote:Hayes speed I feel will catch Wlad cold and we will see a quick KO, inside 3.

I couldn't agree more. Everytime Haye's been in with someone half-decent he starts slow, and waits to counter. Klit is scared shitless of getting hit. That means a shitty round or two, but as soon as Haye catches Klit, he's going into panic-mode, and Haye isn't the best finisher, but it'll end like the Harrison fight, IMO.

Klitschko for me - home advantage will help and I think will make the difference. The jab will be too much for Haye but hopefully the fight happens!!!!

I think the results so far show that polls on this fight are pointless on the British forum.