By Coach Tim Walker – How do you beat the best in the world when he’s stronger, bigger, possibly faster than you, and more than doubles you in professional experience. How do you accomplish this feat when he hits opponents like a steel-hammer or should I say hammers them like a pieces of steel.
How do you beat the best when he has a legendary trainer in his corner who boasts former champions with surnames such as Hearns, Leonard, Chavez, De La Hoya, Holyfield, Spinks, Lewis and the list goes on and on and perpetually on. How do you beat the best when he has an entire nation behind him from the smallest child to the oldest adult.
Do you buy totally into your record and say to yourself I’m 22-1-0 with 21 knockouts and completely ignore the fact that your opponent’s record at 23 fights was 23-0-0 with 21 knockouts as well.. Do you pay no attention to the 32 fights he has accumulated since reaching the 23 fight plateau and snub the thumping that he dealt to Chris Byrd, Sultan Ibragimov, Hasim Rahman, Sam Peter, Ray Mercer and most every other reputable heavyweight of this era. Do you make yourself oblivious to the fact that 25 of those 32 bouts resulted in knockouts as well.
Do you simply say to yourself “I’ve got a punchers chance” and go into the ring prepared to swing for the fences for as long as you can last. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” But boxing is unique from all other sports. Preparation and hard work are not enough, and failure is a hard lesson to learn. Becoming a victim to a 30 yard pass completion or a buzzer beating 3-point shot or a step-over 180 turn or even the world famous triple deek does not seem to be nearly as finite a failure as the dubious results of a well placed right cross followed by an elbow raised left hook.
Do you make an effort to out-think the more experienced fighter who, as I mentioned before, trumps you in total bouts, championship bouts and overall boxing experience. Do you learn by the failures or successes of his previous competition. Did Corrie Sanders, Ross Purity and Lamon Brewster leave a decent instruction manual on how to hurdle this obstacle or were their triumphs attributed to a correct alignment of the planets. It was Albert Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Are you elusive enough to avoid his power. Can you hit harder enough to make him respect your punches. Is your conditioning good enough that your endurance is better or at a minimum, just as good?
Questions begat more questions which in the end begat even more questions. This is not a debate for all time greats but there is no denying that Wladimir Klitschko is one of those rare fighters whose talent and chin seem to surpass everyone else’s in the division. Couple that with excellent game planning from Emmanuel Steward and it’s blatantly obvious that he is probably the world’s best heavyweight. Still, no one is impossible to beat. The most dominant heavyweight in recent history, Mike Tyson, proved that.
So what is 6’3” 220 pound David Haye to do when he steps in the ring with 6’7” 250 pound Wladimir Klitschko. Box the puncher, punch the boxer, run, clinch, move, throw Haye-makers (pun intended) or a combination of all that plus more. In my opinion his conditioning must be monumental. His willingness to take a shoot to give a shoot must be evident. But probably more than anything else he should treat this fight like an amateur fight. Collectively pick your jaws up from the floor please. There are three things that Haye will need to beat Klitschko and neither is a knockout: supreme conditioning, excellent lateral movement and punches in bunches.
1. Conditioning
For this one night forget that you have 21 knockouts and trade off your power for speed. Klitschko has the ability to lull you into his type of fight and before you know it you’re standing with your back against the ropes as he peppers you with his long arms. Move baby move! The crowd may boo but you must resist the urge to stand and trade. The fact is if you sit down inside Klitschko’s range he will knock you out!
2. Excellent Lateral Movement
Klitschko is a master at jabbing the air. Sometimes he jabs directly at you other times he jabs slightly to your left or right. This basically traps you in one spot and you become stationary for a moment while you think of a way out. Before you can react he throws a real jab followed by a powerful right hand. If he lands that right hand he will throw a left hook. This is affectionately known as…The End! Don’t fall into this trap because he will knock you out!
3. Punches in Bunches
If you ever fought or coached amateurs then you are familiar with this concept. Basically when a fighter is outgunned you punch hard enough to keep him respectful of your power but you sacrifice some of your power for speed. Instead of two or three hard shots you are thinking four or five quick punches followed by head movement, pivot and an immediate get the hell out of there! When you do get pressed into the ropes don’t pause too long. Punch first and follow those punches with an immediate get the hell out of there! The great Sugar Ray Leonard was masterful at this frustrating technique. Do you remember the infamous “No Mas!” fight. Coupling these three elements together allow you to be in the fight without being in excessive danger.
So there you have it fight fans. Twenty questions that’ll make David say Haye and my take on how he should approach his fight with Wladimir Klitschko. This match is a true modern-day David and Goliath. Good luck to both fighters and I hope you give us one for the ages or at the least a really, really good fight. Now before you pundits of boxing leave comments about it there are only 17 questions. So for the accuracy sticklers…. I hope you are laughing at that one.