by James Slater – There is little doubt David Haye has done what he wanted, and has got himself firmly on the radar of the Klitschko brothers. Again proving this is the fact that Wladimir Klitschko, the younger brother and current IBF and WBO heavyweight boss, has been talking about Haye once again. No longer dismissing the possibility of a fight with Haye, Wladimir has said he is pleased the former cruiserweight has “made a lot of noise” in moving up to heavyweight.
However, “Dr Steel Hammer” also believes “The Hayemaker” is likely too short to make it in the big guys’ weight class. Going even further, the 32-year-old, who faces former champion Hasim Rahman on Saturday, compared Haye to Herbie Hide of all people. Vitali Klitschko, of course, crushed Hide in just 2-rounds back in 1999, and it seems Wladimir feels Haye will fall in a similar manner if and when he faces him.
“David Haye decided to make himself famous by promoting himself,” Wladimir said. “He’s loud but only actions in the ring can show whether it’s empty words. David Haye is much shorter so he needs to talk a lot to get attention. He makes a lot of noise. It’s too early to judge how he will do as a heavyweight but if he continues to behave like that I will probably consider meeting him in the ring to stop it.
“There is nothing wrong with him stepping into the heavyweight division, he is welcome. I told him to get in line. Now he’s had his first fight he’s stepped closer to me. I consider Haye to be like Herbie Hide. They both try to end fights with one punch. They are comparable. David’s fast and so is Herbie. But there aren’t many examples of fighters moving up to heavyweight and doing well – Evander Holyfield is an amazing exception.”
While many people, Haye and his team, for example, will likely find the comparison to Hide an insult, Klitschko does have a point when it comes to both guys’ propensity to try and end fights in spectacular, one-punch fashion. But isn’t that what makes “The Hayemaker” so thrilling to watch? One other thing Wladimir is happy about, Haye’s move up aside, is the fact that his division has some real excitement once again.
“Next year is going to be a very exciting time for the heavyweight division because suddenly there are names,” Wladimir said. “We have to make the crossover and you do that by getting more fighters with names involved. More people will pay attention to the division if we have more recognisable faces.
“Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson made the crossover – it was not just boxing fans who knew their names, everyone did. Evander Holyfield and George Foreman are other examples. Names allow us to crossover from the boxing community into the majority. We need characters in the heavyweights and now we have some. With Chris Arreola from the States, Haye from Britain and Nikolay Valuev from Russia we have some interest in the division once more.”
Wladimir, a very intelligent person, is right in what he says. But which combination of he and the names he mentioned will give us the next heavyweight super-fight? David Haye thinks he knows who it will be, that’s for sure!