The WBA has not been a credible organisation at heavyweight ever since they stripped Lennox Lewis in April 2000. Since then their champions have been Holyfield, Ruiz, Roy Jones, Valuev, Chagaev and Haye. Since 2000 none of these fighters have gone on to become ranked #1 and Chagaev is the only one to even try, taking a one-sided beating from Wladimir Klitschko in 2007. Thats the only loss Chagaev has suffered since beating Valuev for the WBA title so logically Wladimir should be the WBA champion anyway. Instead, the WBA now recognises David Haye as its champion. David Haye claims he could not take the July 2nd date with Wlad if Wlad fights Chisora first because the WBA will strip him of his title. So what? His title is a joke. Lennox Lewis, a true British world heavyweight champion, saw the WBA for what they are and gave up their joke title over a decade ago. If David Haye is really going to retire in October, why would he prioritise a paper title over the fight everyone wants to see, the fight that will earn him mega-money? Of course David Haye has profited hugely from the WBA. He has made very good money fighting in World Heavyweight Title fights against Valuev, Ruiz and Harrison. Haye does not want to give up his WBA belt and be forced to admit to the British fans that these were sham title fights and that the public were misled into believing they were buying real heavyweight title fights. If Haye now misses out on the Wlad payday because of his loyalty to the WBA that will be karma in action. Haye has profited from the joke organisation that is the WBA. Now he is suffering.
Wlad wants the fight Haye to win the WBA belt. He won't want to fight him just to defend his own titles. Did you forget that part?
Bull****. Wlad wants to fight Haye because Haye is the #1 challenger and because Haye has talked so much **** about the Klitschkos. And for the money. The Klitschkos know that the WBA is a joke. As I say, logically Wlad would be the WBA champion already.
But he isn't the WBA champion, Haye is. Wlad has said before that he or his brother want the WBA belt so that between them they have all the titles.
I don't think Wlad would mind beating Chagaev again. Maybe they could give the WBA to Vitali for a while even, make sure there's no fights in the Klit household.
They have said they want the WBA belt. We're simply telling you what they said. You're dismissing that? I guess you know what they think better than they do themselves. With the WBA title at stake it's a big unification fight, and as such allows Haye a better negotiating position. A unification fight is a bigger, more interesting fight than a simple title defence.
You are missing the point: the WBA title doesn't mean ****. You actually believe Wlad wouldn't fight Haye, the boxer recognised as the number 1 challenger to the brothers, the man who has pissed Wlad off with his trashtalk for 3 years, in a fight that the world wants to see and which would gross mega-millions...if Haye vacated a joke title? If you believe that you should want to see Haye call Wlad's bluff. If Wlad is ducking Haye, Haye has to remove all the obstacles until it is clear that Haye is in the right. At the moment the WBA belt, a worthless title, is cited as an obstacle by David Haye. That is the reason Haye blamed for the July 2nd fight not coming off.
although I disagree with allot of what you have to say I do feel that karma has come back to bite Haye right in the arse due to taking the Harrison fight. The boxing gods have spoken. Remember Chagaev was unable to defend his title agaisnt Mandatory challanger and was therefore stripped. I don't think thats unfair. The losers in all this are the fans. No one should feel sorry for Haye. Bruthead, whatever you opinion is of Haye, Klitscko ducked the fight this time round. Haye ducked the others 100 times, but this time it was Klitscko. In an ideal world the WBA wouldn't mean **** but in the real world it does. With that belt Haye can sell out arenas and PPV's and make allot of money, infact more money than the Klitsckos.
To be honest I haven't got the foggiest what's going on between the Klits and Haye. I don't believe what either camp says any more. They're both as bad as each other. It wouldn't surprise me if it's all smoke and mirrors.
WBA December 2010 Rankings Champ: David Haye - Britain 1. Ruslan Chagaev - Uzbekistan 2. Dennis Boytsov - Russia 3. Alexander Povetkin - Russia 4. Alexander Ustinov - Russia 5. Hasim Rahman - U.S. 6. Nicolay Valuev - Russia 7. Alexander Dimitrenko - Ukraine 8. Jean-Marc Mormeck - France 9. Kali Meehan - Australia 10. Tomasz Adamek - Poland 11. Robert Helenius - Finland 12. Timur Ibragimov - Uzbekistan 13. Dennis Bakhtov - Russia 14. Juan Carlos Gomez - Cuba 15. Chris Arreola - U.S.
Wlad is WBA champ in all but name only, when he beat Chagaev in 2009, who was stripped of the title and it being given to Valuev, who lost to Chagaev. In reality Haye should be regarded nothing more than a Heavyweight contender, but this is modern ABC boxing. :-(
Well, Chagaev had held the belt hostage for two years with his illnesses. He signed the rematch with Valuev and failed the blood test. He wasn't fit to fight, so had no right to hold the belt. Wlad beating him is interesting, but why didn't Wlad go out of his way to make a fight with the giant Russian afterwards. He never even tried.
Brut, in theory its a good point, the belt is pathetic, a complete joke but you cant seriously suggest Haye should ditch it as with it, he's manage to secure a 50/50 split of what could be one of Britain highest grossing ppv's.
2 years? 1 year. Failed the blood test in Finland, and fought Wlad in Germany a couple of weeks later. By that time the WBA stripped him for fighting a Klitschko and gave it to Valuev who fought nobody.
Valuev was being marketed as a gimmick, no way King would have put him in with Wlad. Do you really think this fight was possible?