Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the fight that may or may not take place in Your Universe. In Your Universe you’ve seen injuries, (real or imagined) contract disputes, heart problems, (you know what kind I’m talking about) and (soon to be a coming attraction) marital difficulties, cancel the most anticipated matches in recent Boxing History.
That’s in Your Universe.
But in the B.L. Morgan Boxing Universe we get what we want. Excuses don’t mean a dam thing here.
You got a broken hand? Take some Tylenol.
You got a strained back? Go get some acupuncture.
Wife leaves you because you’ve been playing around? Tough luck buddy, get a good divorce lawyer and learn how to pray.
I’ll repeat; Excuses don’t mean a dam thing here!
As long as we can crank up the computer, in this case a PS3 and load the Fight Night Champion Boxing Simulation Program THE FIGHT IS ON!!!
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The bout is taking place in The Royal London Theatre. In Your Universe the fight is scheduled to take place in Hamburg Germany, but David Haye meeting his modern day Goliath, needs all the help he can get. In the B.L. Morgan Boxing Universe we try to be helpful.
The David Haye vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight is governed by the Cyber Universe Fight Night Champion Governing Board of Commissioners. There is no three knockdown rule. If you hit the floor ten times in one round we might consider stopping the fight but since we are a heartless bunch, don’t count on it. The fighter can only be saved by the bell in the last round. This Boxing Match is for 12 rounds or less for the Ring Heavyweight Championship of the World. No other sanctioning bodies will be recognized or named.
David Haye is 6foot 3inches tall, and weighs in at 220 pounds, with a reach of 78 inches. He has a record of 25 wins, 1 loss, with 23 knockouts.
Wladimir Klitschko is 6foot 7inches tall, and weighs in at 249 pounds, with a reach of 81 inches. He has a record of 55 wins, 3 losses with 49 knockouts. He is the current reigning Ring Heavyweight Champion of the World.
The two fighters are announced. They come to ring center.
David Haye bugs out his eyes and snarls at Wladimir Klitschko during the referee’s instructions. Wladimir looks serene like he’s just finishing up a session of meditation. The difference in size between Haye and Klitschko is dramatic. Haye has to look up to make his mean faces. The attempt at intimidation loses most of its effectiveness.
When the referee tells the fighters to shake hands Haye reaches out to smack Klitschko’s glove. Wladimir pivots turning his back on him.
The first blow has been struck and the bell hasn’t even sounded.
Round 1:
David Haye comes out in a rush. He’s jabbing, throwing left hooks and swinging overhand rights meant to decapitate. At the two minute mark he stuns Wlad with a wide left hook.
Klitschko comes back with a few big rights and good body punches. Wlad doesn’t seem to be jabbing enough. He’s meeting Haye’s aggression with power shots. Haye scores well with another big leaping left hook, follows it with two right uppercuts and Wladimir Klitschko is down! That last left hook did the job of rattling Wlad’s teeth. The two rights completed the job, sitting him on the canvas.
Klitschko gets up at the count of 4.
As Haye rushes in Wlad jabs and counters then grabs for a clinch.
Klitschko jabs, jabs, crosses with the right and jabs some more. Keeping his distance, Wladimir fights the rest of the round smart.
Round to David Haye 10-8
Round 2:
Wladimir Klitschko is busier with the jab as the round starts. He forces Haye to eat shots on the way in, then ties up in close. Wlad is using his reach and size very effectively. Klitschko makes Haye miss a large percentage of his punches by keeping him out of range.
The pattern of round 2 was Wlad forcing Haye to fight from a distance. The match already looks to be evolving into another typical Wladimir Klitschko title fight: Tight defense, fight from a distance, and wear down the opponent until he falls apart.
We’ll see if David Haye can do anything to change the trend.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-9
Round 3:
Wlad is blocking almost all of Haye’s shots while landing jabs and straight rights.
Haye has been reduced to jabbing from a distance, missing and lunging with power shots. He does get in an occasional punch but mostly he catches air or arms.
Not much is happening.
Like a meteorite out of a clear blue sky Haye misses with another loose left hook (this one to the body) and Wlad poleaxes him with a laser-straight right hand to the chin. David Haye is as stiff as a two by four as he crashes down to his back.
Up at the count of 6 Haye is still hurt.
Wladimir Klitschko backs off. He jabs and throws straight rights but is not aggressive.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-8
Round 4:
Klitshcko lands the jab at will. He doesn’t try to do very much else.
David Haye is looking tired. He’s missing far too much and wearing himself out.
Not very much exciting is taking place this round. It looks like Wlad’s plan is to wear Haye out, then capitalize.
Overall Round 4 was boring, but for Klitschko that’s good. He’s tiring Haye out and taking almost no damage.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-9
Round 5:
Between rounds Haye’s corner told him he’s losing most of the rounds and has to land something big. He responds by storming out throwing power shots and missing.
Being aggressive against Wlad only makes his plan more effective.
With a minute gone in the round Haye looks dog tired and actually staggers without being hit. He huffs and puffs. His hands are dropping to chest level.
Klitschko is scoring at a higher percentage than he was earlier in the fight and hurting Haye with just about everything he throws.
Even with that he’s not being very aggressive.
David Haye backs into the ropes, leaps forward throwing an overhand right, misses and is dropped to his face by a counter right uppercut, left hook combo.
He goes down hard!
Up at 6 again he eats a jab.
David Haye’s stamina is almost totally gone. He staggers whenever he’s hit with anything.
Wladimir is fighting smart beating Haye from a distance where David can’t touch him.
In Round 5 Wladimir Klitschko could have ended this fight if he’d chosen to. Maybe he just wants to torture Haye a bit for all the taunting for the last few years.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-7
Round 6:
David Haye comes out throwing Haye-makers (intentional pun) hoping for a miracle. He drains himself without landing anything hurtful.
Wlad bides his time. He keeps landing jabs and straight rights on an exhausted opponent.
I keep asking myself, when is Klitschko going to end this?
Haye is staggering without being hit with big punches.
Wlad is playing it safe, too safe I think.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-9
Round 7:
After eating a straight right David Haye staggers more from fatigue than anything else.
Whatever Haye throws back he either misses or has blocked.
Klitschko keeps playing it safe.
It’s not exciting to watch but for Wlad it is smart.
He’s tearing down a dangerous opponent while taking very few chances. Wlad looks like he’s waiting for the perfect counter.
Round 7 was a slow, one-sided round.
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-9
Round 8:
Haye is exhausted. That’s been the story of the last few rounds. I just keep wondering if Wlad is going to allow this to go to a decision. He’s winning easy but without any drama.
It’s a repeated pattern: Jab, jab, right-cross, move. Jab, jab, right-cross, move. There isn’t much variation to it but there doesn’t have to be. Klitschko is in complete control.
Will he put Haye out of his misery?
If Wlad gets aggressive, he can stop Haye with no problem, but will he?
Round to Wladimir Klitschko 10-9
Round 9:
Haye is totally used up at the beginning of the round.
David looks about dead and Wlad is coming alive. Wlad is throwing harder and faster. He has chosen Round 9 as the moment to make his move.
Haye, as brave as any fighter has ever been, throws caution to the wind making one last attempt to catch Wladimir with something to hurt him and change the direction of the combat. He slings hard wild shots until he’s gasping for air and staggering.
Klitschko counters a missed reaching right hand with a left uppercut.
David Haye is down again! The uppercut snapped his head back and he fell straight forward landing hard on his face.
Haye struggles up to his knees, he stands for a moment then his legs give out and he collapses to the canvas.
Against a larger, stronger, harder-hitting opponent David Haye gave everything he had but it was not enough.
Wladimir Klitschko knocks out David Haye in the 9th Round.
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The stats:
Punches:
Haye : 307 landed, 989 attempted for a 31% connect rate.
Klitschko: 347 landed, 652 attempted for a 53% connect rate.
The Judge’s scores at the time of the stoppage:
Haye : 71, 71, 71
Klitschko: 78, 78, 78
Or to put it another way: After David Haye knocked Wladimir Klitschko down in the 1st round he didn’t win another round.
The round by round scores I have posted after each of the rounds scored here are my own scores, not the judges scores as supplied by PS3’s Fight Night Champion.
My score of the fight was:
Haye : 70
Klitschko: 78
One round I scored 10-7 in favor of Wlad accounts for the 1 point difference between me and Fight Night Champion Judges.
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Analysis:
I most definitely agree with the result of the David Haye vs Wladimir Klitschko Fight simulation as done on Fight Night Champion. The story of the entire fight was that Haye was not big enough or strong enough to put a permanent hurt on Wlad. He did drop Wlad in the first round but Haye couldn’t keep him on the canvas. In Your Universe I expect this to happen as well … if the fight ever takes place. Which as we all know is still a big maybe.
I expect to hear the argument that Wladimir Klitschko was stopped by three opponents that were right around the size that David Haye will be when they fight. That is true.
To counter, I’m going to point out that Wladimir Klitschko in 2011 is a different fighter from the one who lost to Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders, and Lamon Brewster. Now he is much more defense oriented than he used to be. It makes his fights less exciting but he is much more effective at avoiding punishment. He also uses his size to his advantage more than he did before. Wladimir has learned how to keep opponents at a distance and score when they cannot. David Haye has a tall mountain to climb in getting close to Wladimir Klitschko. It’s a mountain with hostile terrain every step of the way.
As preparation for reporting the David Haye vs Wladimir Klitschko Cyber Fight, I first fought two fights with me controlling each Boxer, one right after the other. That way I could get a sense of what each Boxer had to do to win this match.
First, at the highest setting I fought as Wlad. After a really tough struggle Klitschko stopped Haye in the 12th round. It was a hell of a battle. I found to have any success I had to keep the fight on the outside, beating the hell out of Haye at a range where he couldn’t touch Wlad. I had a harder time than the computer did because I took more chances. While I was controlling Wlad, he got caught with punches the real Wladimir Klitschko would never have gotten hit with. The real Wlad is too careful to run into the stuff I ran him into. But then again, getting hit in a video game doesn’t do long term physical damage. In the real world, it might.
The second fight where I used David Haye as my fighter against Wladimir Klitschko was a disaster. I scored with a few big punches early in the fight but got beat up and dropped over and over again. It was entirely the size that made the difference. Jabbing your way in doesn’t work very well against an opponent who throws jabs constantly from a distance and can land them from farther away than you can. Backing off and periodically rushing in, like Haye did against Valuev didn’t work either. Wlad’s hand speed meant you get caught while still too far away to hurt the bigger guy. Basically, David Haye has to work far harder than Wladimir Klitschko does to land punches.
The analysis is that it’s an uphill climb for David Haye against Wladimir Klitschko. He might have some success early but as soon as the pace slows down the fight is going to swing in Klitschko’s direction in a big way. Basically, the same formula that’s worked beautifully against every fighter since the Wladimir Klitschko vs Chris Byrd fight in 2006 will work in this fight. He will keep David Haye at a comfortable distance for most of the fight and issue a slow beating until Haye falls apart.
Haye has one chance: Come out fast, gamble and get lucky.
It could happen but if I was a betting man I’d bet on Wladimir Klitschko to stop David Haye late in their fight.
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The other things:
Victor Ortiz vs Andre Berto
First of all I want to congratulate both fighters on putting together a real modern classic. These guys fought their hearts out. This is one where the tape has gone into the archives and will be viewed again in the future.
When I first heard this fight was being made I figured it was going to be in interesting match but that Ortiz was going to be outsized. Berto has been feasting on opponents either too small for him or who were not in his league as far as skills or talent. I knew Victor Ortiz was on the same level as Andre in skills and talent so it would be interesting to see because of that.
Then I heard that Ortiz was saying that he was going to be the bigger stronger fighter. I figured he was just trying to either get into Berto’s head or he was deluding himself. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The bottom line is that Victor Ortiz may have been fighting at too low a weight all along.
He looked every bit as strong as Andre Berto and he took Berto’s punches better than Berto took his.
One other thing: While I do believe it should be every fighter’s option to say when he’s had enough and not catch a whole lot of flak for it, I doubt you’ll ever see Victor Ortiz make that decision again. Ortiz is as courageous as they come. There’s no way for anyone other than Victor to know how hurt he was in the Maidana fight.
Victor Ortiz was embarrassed by the way he was talked about after that match. You do not get to be one of the top fighters in the world without having a whole lot of pride. I told the people who came over to watch Berto/Ortiz that Ortiz would be carried out before he’d consider quitting again. On the night of the fight Victor Ortiz had not only a World Championship in his sights but he had his self respect on the line.
Against a man who had as many reasons to win as Victor Ortiz had Andre Berto never really stood a chance.
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Juan Manuel Lopez vs Orlando Salido
First you gotta say, “Wow, what a fight!” and “Wow, what a Saturday Night!”
For entertaining prizefights, that might have been one of the best Saturday Nights ever on Cable Television.
As for Lopez losing to Salido it didn’t really surprise me. Juan Manuel has shown a total disregard for defense almost every time I’ve seen him fight. It was bound to catch up to him eventually. He’s extremely talented so I do expect to see Lopez at or near the top of his division again in the near future.
This could turn into a good thing for him. If Juan Manuel takes this as a lesson he needed to learn then he will study the finer points of defense and come back stronger than ever before. Lopez hits hard, is fast and he has a great killer instinct. If he can add a wrinkle of good defense to his game he will be a very hard guy to beat.
If he doesn’t, expect more exciting shootouts where he will win most but also lose some along the way. Everybody now knows that Juan Manuel Lopez has bad defensive problems. For him to get back to where he once was, he’ll have to be better than he ever was before.
I for one think he can do it.
I look forward to watching him climb the ladder once again.
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Final Words:
This last weekend showed just how alive and exciting the sport of Boxing is. For decades on end I’ve been hearing how Boxing was on its last legs and on the way out as a top notch sport. That has been proved wrong repeatedly and was proved totally wrong last Saturday. Anyone who thinks Boxing is not dramatic and fun to watch should be shown a tape of either Ortiz vs Berto or Salido vs Lopez. Both fights were slam-bang affairs that left you only wanting more.
The competition for the viewing audience between MMA and Boxing seems to have created more competitive matches recently and this trend looks like it is going to continue. Competition is good. Without competition you get complacency and stagnation. Thank God that’s not happening now.
The most important ingredient to bring out the fans is exciting matches. The promoters seem to have finally realized this.
Boxing needs good competitive matches at all levels to sustain fan interest.
With next weekend bringing us the Showtime Bantamweight Tournament (without Agbeko vs Mares), a Super-Middleweight Tournament Semi-final taking place on May 14, with Pacquiao vs Mosley taking place between those two cards the big shows just seem to be coming one right after another.
If the top Boxing Promoters keep putting together cards like what we’ve seen recently and do it consistently the sport will only thrive.
No longer will we have to pine for days gone by when Duran, Arguello, Hagler and Leonard were tearing through their divisions and entertaining us what seemed every weekend. Now, we’ve got our own set of exciting stars that are lighting up the second decade of the new millennium.
For awhile people asked who were going to be the big money-makers when De La Hoya and Trinidad retired. (They did the same thing when Ali finally called it a day.)
Now it’s Pacquiao who’s a fight or two from retirement, with Donaire, Khan, Ortiz, Ward or any number of guys looking to take over the #1 spot as the top attraction in Boxing. The sport is full of risk takers who are willing to put it all on the line for our viewing pleasure.
2011 is shaping up to be a very good year for the sport of Boxing and 2012 will be even better.
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B.L. Morgan is the author of Blood and Rain, Blood for the Masses, Blood on Celluloid and Night Knuckles through Speaking Volumes. http://speakingvolumes.us/authors_ebooks.asp?pid=79
He is also the author of Blood and Bones & You Play, You Pay through StoneGarden.net Publishing.
Soon to be available from New Worlds Publishing, Land Of No Return. Get it before it gets you!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!