This coming Saturday, a major heavyweight title bout will take place. And you know, given the wretched state of the division over the past several years, writing those words is a surreal experience. Be that as it may, though, the title-unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye is the most significant heavyweight encounter since Lennox Lewis demolished what was left of Mike Tyson back in 2002. That?s an eight-year drought.
Substantial as Klitschko-Haye is now, it was even bigger back in 2009, when the two were first scheduled to meet. Those were the days before the first hints of a potential Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. superfight surfaced. Citing a back injury during training, Haye pulled out of the Klitschko fight. And Pacquiao-Mayweather turned out to be just a mirage ? so far, at least.
Now, barring other injuries (an abdominal tear caused Klitschko to twice cancel a meeting with one Dereck Chisora), Wladimir will finally get the chance to button Haye?s lip. Haye is a consummate trash-talker, seeming to channel both Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson in that department. If Haye can punch as well as he chirps, Klitschko is in trouble.
Yet most indications suggest that Haye?s the one who?s in trouble. Wladimir and his older brother Vitali are the twin titans who loom large over the rest of their division. At 6?3? and 215 lb, Haye would have fit right in with Ali and the other heavyweights of the 1970s Golden Age. But he is dwarfed by the Klitschko brothers, who are both over 6?6? and weigh more than 240 lb.
If size alone mattered, though, Haye would have lost to Nicolay Valuev, who at 7 feet and over 300 lb out-bulks even the Klitschkos. But Haye finessed his way to a tight decision over Valuev back in 2009. Wladimir is way smaller than Valuev, but he has vastly superior technical skills and hits much harder than the Russian giant. That?s bad news for Haye.
There are, however, two equalizing factors in this fight. First, Haye is a puncher on a par with Klitschko, especially with the right hand. Second, both fighters have shaky chins. It?s not as though they?re glass-jawed, but they?ve both hit the canvas more than once, and they?ve both been knocked out.
Under the tutelage of trainer Emmanuel Steward, Klitschko has learned to protect his iffy chin while dominating his opponents in sometimes boring fashion. Haye?s defense has not improved all that much over the years; he was floored by fading fringe contender Monte Barrett before finally stopping his heavyweight-tryout opponent. This vulnerability will be the difference-maker in Saturday?s bout.
Haye?s best chance is an early blitz that would cause Klitschko to flash back to the two-round whuppin? Corrie Sanders laid on him in 2003. The longer the fight lasts, however, the greater the probability that Klitschko will batter Haye into a late-rounds stoppage defeat.
David beat one Goliath in Valuev, and he deserves all due credit for that feat. But against Wlad-iath Klitschko, Haye will come up short.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His latest novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at www.gopulp.info.
