By Martin ‘The Brain’ Potter of the Boxing Clever Podcast: At the height of summer 2011 the heavyweight title fight that everyone has been clamouring for will (and I say that loosely) happen. Britain’s David ‘Hayemaker’ Haye has finally signed to fight the German based Ukrainian Wladimir ‘Dr. Steel Hammer’ Klitschko in the much hyped, much anticipated unification clash. Or maybe he has signed to fight Vitali (I am slightly confused – not difficult!) Anyhow, assuming Wladimir is not ‘injured’, can David Haye possibly defeat the machine like behemoth?
At the outset, despite being British and a Haye fan (not an endearing combination I know), I have to acknowledge that Wladimir is the favourite in this fight and rightly so. Klitschko has advantages in height, reach, weight and natural strength. On top of that he has had twice as many fights as Haye, ten times as many heavyweight fights and countless more world title bouts. And he has the legendary Manny Steward in his corner. Despite all these advantages for Wladimir and my acknowledgement that he deserves to be the favourite in this fight, I honestly believe that Haye does have a decent shot at winning; here’s how…
Haye needs to show effective aggression and not be as passive as he was against Valuev and Harrison. Wladimir Klitschko, unlike his brother Vitali, is not a natural born fighter. By fighter, I don’t mean boxer – in boxing terms Wladimir is more natural than his older sibling, looser and more fluid in the ring. What I mean is that Wladimir does not like a scrap or a ‘tear-up’ as Nigel Benn used to say, whereas Vitali, despite blood pouring from his face, almost revelled in the Lennox Lewis bout. Big brother doesn’t mind taking one to give one. Wlad on the other hand gets a look of panic strewn across his face (strange for a man usually so expressionless) whenever an opponent looks like they could connect with a big shot. Haye needs to capitalize on Wlad’s aversion to taking a big punch by firing off some early warning shots to keep the big man guessing.
If Haye stays on the outside too much, a la Valuev, then he will get picked off by Wlad’s ramrod jab all night long. Wlad is a far better boxer than Valuev, he is quicker and hits harder, meaning Haye will struggle to outbox him at range for 12 rounds. I am not advocating that Haye goes at Klitschko hell for leather as that would also be a mistake; getting careless would leave the Hayemaker walking onto a, well, haymaker. Wlad has a crushing right hand and if he lands it then Haye will be back hawking tasteless t-shirts; although this time he will not be the one holding the heads. What Haye needs to do is mix it up, attack Wlad early with the big right hand and look to take away Klitschko’s biggest weapon, the left jab. If Haye can time Wlad’s jab and get his hard right off as a counter from the offset then it will panic Klitschko. Make no mistake, Haye hits extremely hard.
Haye will also need to close the distance and use his quick footwork and lateral movement to do so. Although he is more of a natural counter puncher, Haye is not adverse to the rough stuff and will need to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Wlad whenever he can.
The problem for Haye is that to win this fight it is going to be a very hard balancing act. If he spends too long outside then he gets picked apart by the jab but if he spends too long inside then he is in danger of getting KO’d by the right. This means Haye, as I have already said, needs to mix it up and keep Klitschko guessing. Work outside for periods then move in close quickly, throw the right and rough Klitschko up, move to the mid- range and slip punches, get back inside and throw the right, then fight on the outside again. Essentially to win this fight David Haye needs to land the big right hand and knock Wladimir Klitschko out; all my other tactics are window dressing. Yet it is window dressing that draws people in and confuses people and Haye must do this to Wlad in order to get the chance to land the right.
So it is quite simple for Haye then; land the right, win the fight! I have a feeling that it will be a lot harder than that….especially if he ends up in the ring with Vitali.
For more boxing opinion, inane babble and poor attempts at humour from ‘The Brain’ listen to the 5 star rated Boxing Clever Podcast, available on iTunes or at www.boxingcleverpodcast.libsyn.com or you can email me at boxingcleverpodcast@gmail.com.