By Stuart Cornwell – David Haye did okay in winning the WBA title last night from Nicolay Valuev by a majority decision after 12 rounds of boxing in Nuremburg, Germany, but failed to fulfil his boastful promises to knock the giant title-holder out in sensational fashion. Maybe I’m sour because I bought into his confidence and had enough faith in his punching and boxing ability to a point where I expected and predicted him to win by KO, but I found last night’s performance a little bit disappointing. From a man who has lambasted and outright insulted Wladimir Klitschko for his dullness in the ring, and been telling everyone how uniquely exciting an addition he will make to the heavyweight division, Haye simply came up short. How much more exciting was David’s effort last night than Wladimir’s last ring appearance in June against Ruslan Chagaev ? Bearing in mind that Haye called Klitschko’s fight “the cure for insomnia”, Haye versus Valuev must at least have ranked as a mild sedative.
Frankly, I’m surprised Haye got the decision. Not that he did not deserve it – he most certainly did – but then again, so did a 46 year-old Evander Holyfield against Valuev last December, and probably by a similar margin (Haye received two scores of 116-112, and the third judge had it even : 114-114). The biggest risk Haye took last night was letting it go the distance, and the risk paid off.. I suppose the powers that be in boxing value the 29 year-old Haye’s potential more than the resilient relic Holyfield’s, or the aging sloth-slow Valuev’s for that matter (who’s obvious appeal only really seems to work well on people who have not seen him fight before). Whatever the reason for rendering a fair decision, the novelty should be celebrated.
To be fair to Haye, he was quick to explain his relatively low punch output – (in relation to the salvos he fires off from his mouth, his fists barely moved at all) – on damage he sustained to his right hand early into the fight ; damage caused by hitting Valuev’s concrete block of a head. On a couple of occasions during the fight I wondered why solid lefts from Haye were being unaccompanied by obligatory solid follow-up rights, and the “bad hand” excuse explains it. Those solid lefts were few and far between though, so the injured right wasn’t exactly obvious. Another thing I’ll say in defence of Haye : as bad as Valuev is, he’s got some method to him and is clearly an incredibly awkward man to fight, never mind beat. But make no mistake, Valuev is (was) a “champion” of poor quality, and any of those theories that he was taking it easy on an old idol last year in his performance against Holyfield, or was star-struck by the living legend’s presence, surely hold no water. Valuev looked the same here against Haye, and while he might have won a few rounds and had Haye on the back foot the entire fight, most of his activity consisted of shuffling forward and throwing slow-motion grandfather punches into thin air. Valuev looked old, he looked Jurassic.
The one moment of drama in the fight occurred right at the end, in the 12th round. A left hook from Haye landed on Valuev’s jaw causing him to do a jelly-legs dance and reel sideways-backwards into the ropes before righting himself. It at least hinted at Haye possessing the ability to have possibly scored the KO he so fervently had promised. It was a good note for Haye to have ended on, seeing as no one had done anything quite like that to Valuev before (in his 52 previous professional fights), and it separates this 12-round decision win over the giant somewhat from Ruslan Chagaev’s (the first and only other loss Valuev has suffered), as well as the dubious “win” decisions Valuev has been awarded over Holyfield and Ruiz (in one of their two fights), and some say Larry Donald too. Haye staggering Valuev will likely be the only lasting memory we (the fans) will take into his next fight, whoever it may be against, we wishful thinkers and wardens of selective memories. But for the now time, while the memory of last night’s fight is fresh and clear, I’ll say Haye did okay.