By Robert Brown: The July 2nd heavy weight unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye was supposed to be the resurrection of interest in the heavy weight division, instead the only thing that needed resurrecting was the majority of the audience. They had fallen asleep by about half way through the fight.
Larry Merchant had captured this by saying Quote: Wake me up when the fight starts Unquote. After all the talk, all the hype and all the knockout predictions, this fight will take its place in the back pages of boxing history.
Both fighters were very timid and cautious which led to a dull fight. But again the majority of blame for the way this fight eventuated must be centered upon David Haye, who should have swapped his boxing shoes for hiking boots to accommodate the amount of running he did during the fight. In between all the running there were occasional times when he would be trapped in the corner, having to move his head, duck and weave to avoid jabs, and near the end of the round, would occasionally throw Hail Mary leap hooks which he attempted Apart from that there wasn’t much else.
This sort of display from the fighter who stated that he must win this fight to save the heavy weight division from the boring Klitschko brothers, provided as much action as a mime festival, and was a bigger flop than Mariah Carey’s album and the subsequent film “Glitter”.
The fight was so uncompetitive that over enthusiastic British fight fans were dulled into deathly silence by his super defensive performance. David Haye had stated before the fight that Klitschko would be lying unconscious quivering on the floor. Instead at the end of this fight the only thing unconscious was the majority of fans both in the arena and watching on television. Granted, Klitschko was not overly exciting either. Even though he did not fulfill his prediction for a 50th knock out, David Haye was the challenger making all the bold claims before the fight, so to salvage his already questionable reputation Haye had to provide the action in the fight, in which he failed miserably.
Haye tried to provide excuses for his sub-par performance by stating that he had carried a broken toe into the fight, but my question is this, if the toe had been as badly injured as Haye had stated, even with injections, how was Haye able to run around during the fight so much let alone walk? To me it is another excuse for Haye’s career being all hype and no heart.
Both fighters got $15–20 million dollars for a fight that I would not have paid $20 for at a traveling circus. If two of the top heavy weights in the world cannot provide a fight that’s worth missing lunch with your mother in-law to see, then the heavy weight division may truly never recover to its once former glory.
The heavy weight division needs a big exciting knockout style American heavy weight more than I need a large pay check. If the solution is not provided soon then it is clear the heavy weight division will not recover.
The saviour, as was clearly demonstrated on July 2nd is not David Haye. As boxing fans let us pray for the return of a healthy heavy weight division and may God have mercy on our souls.