David Haye claimed he had to deal with Wladimir Klitschko’s strong jab if he was to come away from Germany with anything but he failed miserably as the Ukrainian dominated from start to finish to retain his WBO and IBF heavyweight titles and wrench the Londoner’s WBA belt from his grasp.
From the first bell Klitschko was on top, popping out his left hand that limited Haye’s options and frustrated him as the Ukrainian took a comfortable unanimous points win after a pulsating 12 rounds of action.
The British fighter went into the fight with plenty of confidence that he could hand Klitschko the fourth defeat of his long career, but he put his below-par performance down to a broken toe suffered in training three weeks ago.
Haye continued his mind games right up until before the fight as he delayed his entrance ? much to the annoyance of the 55,000 in attendance.
But the British fighter was then jostled on his way to the ring as over-eager fans tried to get near the 30-year-old as he made his way through the rain in Hamburg.
And the 30-year-old was pushed around in the ring from the start by Klitschko as the Ukrainian landed with his much-talked-about jab with relative ease.
Haye’s chin took its first test in the second round when Klitschko landed a big right hand after he pushed the Londoner back against the ropes.
The 30-year-old took his first risk of the night in the third and it ignited the fight as he landed a right hand flush on his opponent’s chin which forced Klitschko to also go on the attack to stop Haye.
Klitschko regained control in the fourth with his ever-present left hand landing numerous times to keep Haye at bay and the 35-year-old landed a huge right in the fifth that clearly shook the Brit.
After numerous warnings from referee Genaro Rodriguez, Klitschko was finally deducted a point in the seventh for his constant pushing down of Haye when the British fighter got inside his guard.
But that didn’t really give Haye any lift as Klitschko continued to dominate in the next two rounds, continually pressing forward with his jab and limiting the Londoner to wild swinging shots.
If Haye thought the fight was tight going into the eleventh, then it was put beyond him when he was seemingly pushed to the floor by Klitschko and the referee surprisingly gave the Londoner an eight count as he judged it as a knockdown.
Haye landed a big right hand in the last, but Klitschko continued to frustrate him as he held on to stop the Londoner from following up and the Ukrainian had easily done enough to impress the judges.
The injury to his foot would no doubt have made a huge difference to Haye’s attacking prowess but nothing can be taken away from Klitschko’s perfect performance.
REACTION:
A despondent Haye was quick to point out his broken toe after the fight and he felt it stopped him from unleashing his big right hand. “I felt I could get past his shots but I couldn’t push off my right leg. I broke my toe three weeks ago. I had a local anaesthetic. I couldn’t explode off it. I couldn’t push off my right foot.
“I was hoping the local anaesthetic would do enough but it didn’t. I did everything I could do and I proved my chin.”
Haye admitted he considered pulling out of the fight but it was too close to night and he didn’t want to disappoint his fans. “It was so frustrating for the biggest fight of my life and this happened. I was thinking about pulling out but I couldn’t do it after all the fans had paid all the money.”
The British fighter put all the pre-fight abuse toward Klitschko down to his tactic to try and goad the Ukrainian into a brawl and paid tribute to him afterwards. “I was trying to encourage him to come in but he fought a smart fight. He’s a great fighter and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. Everything that was said before was to get him to come but he fought a smart fight.”
Haye refused to confirm or deny whether he will walk away from the sport now and said he needs to review his performance. “I don’t know if it’s the end. I have to watch the fight back ? he didn’t hurt me. My plan was to win this fight but it wasn’t meant to be today. I’ve been plagued with injuries.”
WHAT’S NEXT: After being so adamant about his retirement date, Haye will now find it tough to come back from this defeat. A rematch is the only fight really out there for him but Klitschko may not be interested in meeting the British fighter again. Haye is also unlikely to get a fight with the elder of the siblings, Vitali, as he is preparing for a September date with Tomasz Adamek.
FIGHT OF THE UNDERCARD: Ola Afolabi v Terry Dunstan The pick of the undercard didn’t even last a round as Afolabi easily dispatched of Dunstan with just 20 seconds remaining in the first. After a cagey start, the US-based British fighter pressed Dunstan back towards the end of the opening round and ended the fight with a powerful right that saw his opponent counted out.
