Let's Not be too Mean About David Haye

by Drunken cutman on Nov 9, 2009 3:25 PM EST

I did not enjoy David Haye's fight with Nikolai Valuev. Many things about it annoyed me; the incredibly biased commentary from sky sports, the fact that the fight lacked action and excitement, the perception amongst casual British fans that Haye was some sort of masterfully talented heavyweight messiah. He made the headlines all throughout Britain. BBC radio 4 described his performance as excellent, the tabloids are still running articles about how superb he is, even the front page of Yahoo displayed Haye holding his new belt along with the byline: Haye puts on tactical masterclass. It's quite understandable that this would really get on the nerves of a hardcore boxing fan like myself and so many of the users of this site.

After the fight I was pretty keen to decry Haye's ability and performance and may have been overly critical. After watching the fight again I noticed a few things to compliment him on. His movement was great, sure he was against a guy who is very slow but that movement was still undeniably quick. It would make him hard to hit against many other heavyweight. His power is phenomenal. There is simply no getting around this, he rocked an opponent with an incredible chin and did it without even hitting him that much. His footwork looked much better and against a guy with bad footwork that can make a big difference, especially for setting those power shots he so loves. Many heavyweights have bad footwork.

Basically I see a real future for Haye. I don't think he'll ever beat a Klitschko but I reckon his attempt will be entertaining. And if that attempt never comes, Haye against Adamek, Arreola, Chambers or even Dawson is still easily amongst the most exciting fights in the division. I think that I was so annoyed by the coverage of the fight in the popular media that I have been unreasonably harsh about Haye and I dare to say many other hard core fans are the same, at least to some extent.

FanPosts are user-created content written by community members of Bad Left Hook, and are generally not the work of our editors. Please do not source FanPosts as the work of Bad Left Hook.

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Agree with almost all your thoughts on the fight and Haye

I watched the fight on some German channel in a pub, so didn’t have to suffer the Sky team. I did, however, walk out in disgust after the 12th without awaiting the result because,

a) I felt let down that he hadn’t been more aggressive;
b) I thought he wouldn’t get the decision in Germany;
c) given the buzz around the fight, and that it was on at a reasonable hour, UK-wise, I thought that he’d just turned off a shitload of potential new boxing fans; and,
d) I was drunk

In retrospect, as you say, he did show some skills, some serious power, and some stamina that I didn’t think he had (although he was hardly made to work). Then again, and you’re right again, some of the arse-licking he’s received from the UK media since is hard to stomach. He’ll have to show more against Ruiz, however, because this press honeymoon he’s enjoying won’t last – it never does.

Despite all this, and this is where we diverge, if he applied himself, I still think he could beat either of the Ks.

by FCF on Nov 10, 2009 6:57 PM EST reply actions

agree on the last point

I think he has a shot more at Wlad, even though he seem to have been dismissed generally on here.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Nov 11, 2009 11:18 AM EST up reply actions

where was the biased commentary btw?!

One of them had him 2 down at the end, the other one up. There was also the line where one openly wondered whether ‘he had come to win a title or make a fuss’ given that the action was so limited it looked odds on it would go Valuev’s way and that Haye would then start whining.

Also, remember in Britain winning big is kind of rare. Brits are more associated with being gallant losers etc so its something to celebrate a Lot, a new heavweight champion thats not an adopted Brit ;) I remember even Carl Froch who likes his talking, got a column in the Independent after the Dirrell fight that couldn’t have been 6" by 3", while Haye got a double page spread, glamour of the heavyweights…

The meanness in general won’t stop until/unless he knocks out a Klit, so there’s a lot of mileage out there for the haters….maybe he can start by being back to his usual dyanmic for Ruiz, although even if he knocked him out/early, it would be ‘oh, it was only John Ruiz’ etc

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Nov 11, 2009 11:30 AM EST reply actions

Hmm fair enough about the commentary at the end. I was really referring to the pre-fight coverage such as calling Valuev the Heavyweight Champion of the world and that the name Klitschko wasn’t even mentioned. Also through out the commentary, especially early on, there were quite a few things said which showed remarkable bias and exaggeration of Haye’s ability. Comparing him to Lewis particularly annoyed me.

I aught to have been clearer but wrote this in a bit of a rush. Sorry about that..

"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey

by Drunken cutman on Nov 11, 2009 12:20 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

ah yeah

pre fight did leave a bit to be desired. There was a deal of hyperbole about it all, naturally, stretching it to the extreme in mentioning Lewis. No worries, good post and sentiment in the title, even if it will go mainly unheard….lol

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Nov 12, 2009 8:01 AM EST up reply actions

"Comparing him to Lewis particularly annoyed me"

I’ve rec’d your post purely because this comment rings so true….

Lewis was a great champion, the best heavyweight ever, for my money.

Haye has beaten (arguably) a giant slug, throwing 4 punches a round.

Not really a just comparison, is it?

Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)

by Chaos100 on Nov 11, 2009 5:13 PM EST reply actions

It would be easier to not be so critical if he himself was a tad more reserved about the fight.

Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"

by Matt Miller on Nov 11, 2009 7:22 PM EST reply actions

I wonder if Carl Froch and David Haye are friends. I’d be interested to see a conversation between those two guys. Or not.

by taco pal on Nov 12, 2009 11:18 AM EST up reply actions

I believe they are. They’ve sparred together and Froch had high praise for Haye before the Valuev fight (and after, I’m guessing). He called him a great fighter and said he had trouble even touching him. I read that and was like, “Well, Carl, you’re really slow.”

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by Scott Christ on Nov 12, 2009 12:02 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs