After being soundly defeated by IBF, WBO and now WBA heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko at the weekend, for the first time in his career David Haye finds himself without a clear next direction.
For several years now Haye has maintained that he will retire on his 31st birthday, which is in a little over 3 months time.
Of course Haye’s other plans included beating both Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, unifying all of the major titles and becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Even if he had beaten Wladimir last weekend instead of losing a fairly one sided decision however, his retirement date wouldn’t have allowed time for him to then fight Vitali, who faces Tomasz Adamek in September.
As a result Haye’s talk of a relatively early retirement has long been something doubted by fans, and even now it appears that Haye himself isn’t completely sure about what he wants to do.
This morning he told Sky Sports that he would like another crack at Wlad, although it isn’t that likely that the Ukrainian will want to offer a rematch given that the fight was neither exciting nor close.
Instead the fight, billed as the biggest in the heavyweight division since the era of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, was forgettable.
For all Haye’s pre-fight talk he didn’t do anything that any of Wlad’s other challengers have done of late.
He struggled with Klitschko’s height and reach, didn’t let his hands go enough, and generally looked to be trying to avoid damage more than inflicting any of his own.
Making an immediate rematch doubly unlikely, the lack of intrigue in the first fight would also mean much smaller revenues for a second fight. Meaning essentially there likely isn’t any motivation for Wladimir to choose to fight Haye again rather than a new challenger.
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Also for Klitschko almost as much as Haye, the fight was be seen by many as a pedestrian performance.
Perhaps largely due to the hype surrounding the fight, many expected that Haye would give Wladimir the kind of fight that would define the colossal Ukrainian’s place in history and give him a signature win that would be talked about long after his retirement.
Instead Klitschko jabbed, Haye avoided, and neither took enough risks make the fight interesting.
Klitschko as usual won fairly easily but critics will say that Haye was yet another unworthy challenger rather than that Klitschko really is as good as his record suggests.
A second fight wouldn’t change this perception and wouldn’t do any more for Klitschko’s legacy than fighting any of the other current top ten heavyweights.
Where Klitschko goes from here then is almost certainly back to fighting the best that the increasingly shallow heavyweight division has to offer.
Rumors has it that the winner of the upcoming bout between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora will be strongly considered.
Where Haye goes from here though isn’t so clear if he doesn’t want to retire immediately.
Elder brother Vitali might offer Haye a fight in the future, but first has to get past Tomasz Adamek in September. Meaning that Haye would have to delay his retirement for possibly as long as a year allowing for any injuries Vitali might pick up.
Also given the problems that Haye and both Klitschko brothers have had in the past over contract negotiations, Haye accepting a fight with either for a greatly reduced purse and revenue split is unlikely.
Alan Hammond, Pitt: “Haye got beat but if he wasn’t retiring at 31 he could still rule the division after the Klitschko’s retire. Vitali’s got maybe 3 years left if he’s lucky”
