That wasn't your question though. Your question was what adjustments could he have made. My answer was that your question is redundant, because adjustments to a terrible strategy would be immaterial, he should've approached the fight radically differently. Yet again, I say David Haye does have heart. But I do not agree he fought with it last night. In my opinion, he did not. He fought to not get stopped. I expected better. Haye's approach was all wrong. Wladimir Klitschko is far too technically accomplished, far too big, and far too good for a much smaller and lighter man to beat him in the way Haye tried to... or didn't really try to. Great fights call for great hearts, great risks, great efforts and great strategies. Haye provided none of these things. He took the safe option and got beat on points. In every way, a miserable performance from him. I may be an idealist, but I'm proud to be one.
So what's your fight plan technically? If you've seen Haye, analysed his skills you'll know he wouldn't have the tools to implement that strategy. A fighter can't suddenly change his style in 3months, he should have been changing his style for 4years and picking up different techniques, he didn't have the right trainers to hone him though. It all boils down to Haye is a terrible front foot boxer, he's a very good backfoot counter puncher or potshotter, he's good of those but they are redundant against Wlad's technical pressure jabbing style I just rewatched the first half of the fight, its pretty competitive over the first 6, yes he was trying to win, getting outboxed doesn't mean you aren't trying
:huhwow, i really think people misinterpreted that post. what i meant to say is: 1)haye was shut down, like everyone else, because wlad has massive skills 2)being bigger does not mean better. hence the carnera and wlad analogy. wlad is big WITH the talent to boot. carnera lacked that 3)smaller skilled men can take bigger, less skilled men. size matters but if size was all that mattered, carnera would have destroyed louis. wlad has so much more techincal skill than haye that it was a washout. yes, he has size but he skillfully used it to his advantage at what point did i say carnera was as good as wlad?
saying it was gutless was a bit much but after 6, that wasn't a real effort. he was just winging punches. if one landed, cool. if not, that's ok i'll give up the decision. the strategy of 5 punches a round was never, ever gonna work. he knew that. using a strategy, doomed to fail, but that enables you to last the full 12 is not trying to win in my mind
agree that he gets destroyed...which was really the entire point of this thread. they're the same size but light years apart in skill
I don't buy that the only option available to Haye was the horrible one he and Booth selected. Wladimir is not Nikolay Valuev, he could never be beaten by such tactics. That gameplan was an automatic defeat. He should've been far more aggressive, irrespective of whether he fought on the front foot or the back. We know Wlad can be hurt, can be unsettled, can be sent into retreat. Haye is fast, explosive and powerful. This fight didn't sneak up on him PP, it was scheduled to go ahead in 2009, Haye has had years to improve his head movement coming forward, which would of course be a necessary component of a fight plan which would trouble Wlad. He has had years to work out how to get inside a jab, explode a combination, and slide out again. If he had tried to do so and failed, I would not criticize him, because Wladimir Klitschko is a huge man and a superb boxer. But he didn't dare to try this. He settled for a points defeat with as little risk to him as possible. It was dire. He wasn't giving his all to win, it was safety-first throughout. This would have been perfectly understandable if he'd planned to go all-out in the latter rounds, but he didn't. He tried to get to the bell without getting stopped. This deserves criticism.
Not yet, I had a family event, and the host did not have HBO. I did however read round by round updates via Internet phone. I'll have to catch a you tube link later. So far I have only seen clips. If Haye is a good to very good puncher, then perhaps Wlad's chin more solid than most think. Peter, and Haye landed some hard stuff. I see you now feel Wlad is worthy of a top 10 all time spot. Kudos for evolving. What could Haye have done differently? How many punches did he throw? I think there's the short answer. From a tactical stand point, I'll have to watch the fight to see.
That's how he always fights though - looking to counter punch or potshot. He's never had a high workrate and he threw the same as normal I think this is a last round effort - certainly not 'fighting to survive as Popkins suggested' [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI9j9E1yTF8[/ame]
i can see that to a point. against a similar sized opponent in valuev, he barely threw any punches. i guess it's clouded in part by all the talk about how he was going to win by knockout. in the end, the potshotting he did seemed VERY calculated. his first goal was not getting hurt, if wlad got hit as well that was a bonus.
the jab was the one thing he could have utilized. roy jones, in one of the all time potshotting performances of all time against john ruiz, used a surprisingly effective jab. haye threw maybe a handful of jabs all night
Why wait until the last round? That is crap, like getting up just after the count hits 10. If you are down several rounds on the cards you need to get moving, and press the action, not retreat and look for select moments to engage. Haye who is listed at 6'3" ( looks like 6'1 1/2" to 6'2" to me ) is not going to counter over the top of Wlad's jab. To engage, he needs to be willing to move forward and start throwing without advancing to the point where a clinch can happen. Haye simply lacked the will to do this. However Arreola did not. Arreola gave it his best. While the strategy made him eat leather more often than not, at least he tried to win. Haye by the looks of was not willing to do it.