By Paul Strauss: Those were the words of HBO announcer Larry Merchant. Larry was understandably indignant over the poor showing of both of the so called champions, but in-particular Haye.
Haye fought scared, as Wladimir Klitschko described in his post-fight interview. When he should have slipped a punch by the smallest of margins, he instead stepped feet away. His attempted “big” punches could best be described as the flailing away of a frightened amateur.
Klitschko was also somewhat guilty of fighting scared too. He back-handed after throwing rights. Mostly, he used his great size and strength to grab Haye behind the head and push him down. But, Haye attempted to turn the ploy into a much greater offense by flopping to the canvas, and he did manage to get Klitschko penalized one point. But, like the inexperienced actor, he over acted and got himself charged with a knockdown after one of his less than convincing flops. Later, the referee became so peeved with Haye’s attempts at “flopping” that he could be heard to warn Haye that he would “count him out” if he didn’t stop the shenanigans.
The canvas was replaced with a dry one just before the main event, so color man Roy Jones, Jr. pointed out Haye couldn’t blame a wet canvas for his flops. Larry Merchant piped in that “Haye was wetting the canvas”! It was a bad night, and like a wet diaper, it smelled. Roy correctly expressed everyone’s opinion that there’s got to be a better heavyweight fighter out there somewhere. He promised to keep his radar up. Thank the Lord for the excitement generated by the lighter weight classes.
Forget the so called “broken toe” excuse as well. Haye tried to present that as a valid reason for his poor performance. Baloney! Not even his fans were buying that. He attempted to offer the injury as a reason for not being able to push off properly to throw his hayemaker. But, he was certainly able to push off properly to run away.
Roy Jones, Jr. correctly stated that Haye should have either fought (pushed off), or cancelled the fight. How many of you out there have had broken toes? You taped it to another toe and got on with things didn’t you, especially after three weeks of healing, and the “numbing shots” he says he received. The truth is he didn’t want to risk getting hit, and that was real reason for his poor showing. Those few times when he was able to land any kind of a punch, he would then be in a position to throw more. He chose not to and would either flop again, or back away. As announcer Jim Lampley said, Haye dreamed big, talked big, but failed to fight big!