By Michael Carr: Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld famously said “we promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears’. This sums up David Haye’s mediocre performance against an almost equally uninspiring yet ruthlessly efficient Wladimir Klitschko.
What did David Haye fear most? Was it failure on not delivering on his promise that he would knock Klitschko out, or was it being laid out in the middle of the canvas with the sweeping rain eventually awakening him from his painful slumber in Hamburg.
Many bought into the Haye hype that he would in his words ‘breathe life’ into the division with his apparent cheap gimmick the ‘hayemaker’ and his speed they can be forgiven for falling for it. Afterall anyone who follows boxing would get on any bandwagon that threatened to derail the duopoly of the Klitschko brothers.
For what he lacks in real heavyweight ability he has enough intelligence that he can market and sell a fight however bad the fight is on paper, it’s a pity that Haye’s antics outside the ring are far more engaging than his showings inside the ropes. He won his world title in an even bigger snoozefest against Russian comedy cartoon giant Nicolai Valuev.
The problem was, the media were so quick to forget how boring Haye’s performance was that night against a technically inept Valuev who on some people’s score-cards was unlucky to lose. That fight bears similarities to how he fought Klitschko. He was often unwilling to engage in attacks that have combinations and at times ran away from his opponent. For someone who says he’ll breathe life into the division all he’s done is sucked life out of it.
What annoyed me is what motivation did Haye have when he stepped in the ring that night, it’s starting to become more apparent that he placed a greater emphasis on survival than victory. After the fight the biggest straw Haye could clutch was this “”Vladimir said he would knock me out but didn’t do that. He hit me with his best shots and he couldn’t put me down.”
Quite rightly at this moment in time Haye is reflecting on what might have been and pondering what his future will be. When all the initial anger dies down, I feel Haye will decide to take on the winner of Derek Chisora VS Tyson Fury. For someone who has such a big ego as Haye does, his pride would have been handed a considerable dent.
There’s only one way to forget this fight is to remind the fans of what he really is and that’s a fighter. Forget promoting, the “hayemaker” gimmicks, embarrassing press conferences and the tiresome trash-talk and we all know there’s a much more likeable character inside him that still has something to offer domestically.
We all wanted an Andy Murray victory over Nadal on Friday and for Haye to make it a famous sporting double by beating Klitschko. Neither of these came to fruition, but Murray went out on his shield against an inspired opponent and almost won. Whilst Haye just put his shield up, he was just as outclassed out of the ring as he was in it.
Wladimir always said he would teach Haye a valuable lesson come fight night, it wasn’t to be him that taught that lesson but Haye’s mental self destruction that taught him the greatest lesson of all, he was too caught up in his own hype. Putting more effort into interviews selling his ‘ Hayemaker brand’ than he did in those mind-numbing twelve rounds of boxing. Remember David Haye when you step into the ring you’re a fighter, not a promoter and until you retire you will be judged as such.