On July 2nd we are looking at the best heavyweight fight since Lewis-Tyson. In fact, bar Pacquiao-Mayweather it is the hottest fight on the planet! Boxing is in dire need of a saviour event, we keep getting promised them but they always seem to disappoint. The last 'pick-em' I can think of would probably have been De La Hoya-Mayweather and that was years ago. Furthermore it consisted of 2 playboys fighting as opposed to fighters! This, in my humble opinion is why UFC is growing in popularity as boxers are too concerned with protecting their '0' or playing the celebrity lifestyle (DWTS anyone?)
Now this heavyweight title unification hopefully will be different. Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye are both heavy handed, vunerable to counters and always in supreme condition. On paper this breeds an exciting contest. I am hoping that Wladimir Klitschko can play with Haye for 6-7 rounds then land his Sunday punch right on the button. Obviously as a proud Brit this seems like a betrayal but I love the sport more than my boxing patriotism. Should Haye win it will not unify the sport as he has said he will be retiring in October. This is bad as AGAIN we will be in a situation where we will have a string of B level fighters tussling for several years until a decent young one comes thru (Perez?). However the main reason I think it will be a bad thing is because Haye is not the poster boy Boxing needs. His accomplishments, they are impressive, he travelled to Paris to knock out Mormeck, he unified against Maccarenelli when a lot of people (myself included) thought he could lose and he won on points in Germany against Valuev. However its his persona I take issue with, he wore the infamous decapitaion Tshirts to annoy the brothers K, he equated his predicted annihilation of Audley Harrison with a gang rape and to top it all off he has managed to moan so much about his pay that he is getting 50% of the split to fight Klitschko. Dont get me wrong, the last one shows shrewd negiotating skills but it isnt half cheeky! WK has dominated the division for years and will be a hall of famer. What makes Haye think he deserves an equal share? Is it his knock out of Harrison? Is it his beating up of a shot Ruiz? No, its his mouth!
The Heavyweight Champion of the World should be a role model. Children should look up to them as a paragon of athleticism and entertainment. Haye is neither of these. He is a badly behaved, has talked himself into a reputation he doesnt deserve and wont do anything to promote the sport he claims to love after October. If Klitschko can keep his cool, use his jab and throw the right early on to throw Haye out of rhythm I think we will see an end to the Hayemaker express. However it is worth noting that I am officially the worst predictor in the world as the last big fight I got right was the aforementioned Lewis-Tyson. Therefore put it all on Haye KO rd 1.
Pete
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