Is David Haye skilled enough.......

I think he said his friends that they should bet on round three knockout and deliberately staled to that round before destroying Harrison.



If Harrison would have push action more Haye would have beaten him faster but as that was not the case he waited to round three

 

One of the first interviews I read with Stewart right after he took on training Wlad was that he was shocked how Wlad when in trouble often just took up his guard and "bent over", crouching his back and making himself smaller and inviting the smaller opponent to throw uppercuts and looping hooks to the head.

Stewart said that's the first thing he taught Lewis and this was going to be his goal with Wlad: "A tall fighter must fight tall". When in trouble you keep your chin high, up in the air and out of reach.

IMO Haye will have a hard time accurately connecting with Wlad's chin, and if that he will have to take a step or two forward and go off-balance himself, stretching his upper body out to land his straight right.

 

Is David Haye skilled enough? Well he's not called slappy Haye for no reason, let's put it that way. As for the fight it's self and the tactical battle I think it's pretty clear how this one is going to unfold. The ultra cagey Haye will be on the back foot similar to what he did against Valuev trying to pot shot and hope for that one opening, while at the same time Wlad will be more than happy to let him do just that, Wlad isn't the donkey Valuev after all. Wlad will be winning the majority of rounds fairly easily, much easier than usual of course with Haye refusing to engage in battle, again Wlad will be happy to let this happen much in the same way as his battle with Iggy. The conclusion? I maybe am the only one seeing it go this way but I think the smart bet here and of course the value bet will be to back Wlad to win on points.

Let's be totally honest here, Haye's only chance of winning will be to land his sloppy overrated 'Hayemaker' at some stage, he has about a 30% chance of doing so. Which if he does certainly isn't guaranteed to rock Wlad, if it does and actually knocks Wlad down, then so what? Wlad has come back up before against far more dangerous opponents than the great black hope David Haye.

 

I think so, yeah. Maybe you're right and it is just for the cameras but that doesn't excuse the fact Klitschko never has a gameplan. You can look at him training his jab and clinching and say that he's doing it for the cameras or there's the evidence of all his fights under Steward and the fact he's doing it again.

Personally, I don't think Wlad has a gameplan. He knows he's a better fighter than Haye and Steward knows it too. I don't think they are bothering to have a gameplan.

 

gooners single handedly nearly restores my faith in the general forum only for you to come along and take a **** on it. Well played.

 

You're right, Haye does have to come back with offense of his own after Wlad has thrown the jab. This is where Wlad's long reach comes back to hurt him, I think. Assuming Haye can keep on the outside of his jab and slip it, he then has a great opportunity to counter because Wlad's reach means that he will be out of range for too long to protect himself.

I think that should be the gameplan for Haye. Keep on his toes, make sure he slips a jab and when he does, capitalize. Wlad won't be in a strong position to protect himself because Haye will be in range after slipping the jab and Wlad will be overreaching. As the slower man, there's no way Wlad will be able to get back into a strong defensive position before Haye has thrown a punch.

What you mentioned about mental pressure is an interesting point. I generally think it's true that a fighter who is backed into a corner time after time will struggle mentally but I don't think that will be the case for Haye. I think he's, by far, the mentally strongest of the two and he will have a gameplan that is probably going to revolve around countering Wlad. If he is being backed up, I don't think it'll be too much cause for concern as he is probably already resigned to the fact he will be.

I think it'll be interesting to see how Wlad will apply pressure knowing that Haye is going to counter him though. We already know that Wlad can be gunshy when he is forced to lead. How many rounds did he have an incapable opponent in front of him against Chambers and Ibragimov yet do nothing? In a lot of ways, Wlad is more effective when he's the one countering and I think that's because mentally, he isn't overly confident like the majority of pressure fighters are. Look at guys like Margarito or JCC Sr.. When they were pressuring a fighter, they were in their element and it suited them perfectly. Obviously Wlad is a lot different from them stylistically but I don't get the sense that Wlad wants to be the one attacking them non-stop either. I think he's much more suited when both men are in the centre of the ring and he can dominate them there. When he has to chase an opponent and trap them, I don't think it suits him that much.

Just on the point of whether Steward is a great tactician or not, I think that question could probably be rephrased into "Is Steward a great tactician for Wlad?". How many times have we seen Steward tell Wlad what to do and yet Wlad comes out, round after round, doing exactly the same thing? I think that's a confidence issue. Wlad is so perfect with his basic gameplan of "jab, jab, jab, right hand, jab jab, grab" etc., that he isn't willing to go outside of the box. Assuming Steward tells him that the key to beating Haye is to throw a lead left uppercut, will Wlad do it? I don't think he will, no. He's too good at his own style and probably not confident enough to try out new things inside the ring. Steward has admitted in recent interviews that he is frustrated by Wlad at times and you can understand why. On the other hand, just to give a bit of contrast, Adam Booth did an interview a short while ago where he said that Haye is willing to try out new things in the ring and that's certainly true. How many fights has he had where his gameplan has been the same? Or where he's restricted himself to throwing the same punches? It's not very often.

I agree that Taylor probably isn't mentally strong. I think that's why comparisons between him and Wlad, when it comes to gameplan, are appropriate. I don't think either are ever going to be the type of fighter who will put 100% in their trainer like Hearns did, Lewis did or like Haye does. That's why I think it's a lot easier for Haye and Booth to know what to expect than it is for Wlad and Steward. One has a clear and long history of mixing things up. The other has had cookie cutter fighters for years.

 

Wlad's reach advantage is only something like 2 inches and height is 3 inches. It's Wlad's weight advantage if he manages to clinch close-in that will be the bigger issue....

 

Close to 60 fights, unified HW champion and fighting in so far the highest profile fight of his career and he doesn't have a gameplan? And you say he never does?

Yeah ok, you're clueless.

 

How many times did Sanders have to hit Wlad?

 

David Gaye wasn't skilled enough to avoid 45year olds Ruiz jab.....

 

No he doesn't have the footwork to beat Wlad though I give him props for fighting him. Haters will always hate I suppose but Haye is stepping up so these armchair ***gots(post above) can **** off as they're not true fans and aren't here for the good of boxing.

 

great post,totally agree on wlads inability to do exactly what steward wants,and that he is mentally weak,and limited to doing only what he is 210% comfortable and used to doing.

He wont be angry or more aggresive vs haye,he will be even more cautious and appreshensive,only jabbing and leaning early on.

wlad has said he wishes he had a warrior mentality,and he has all the skill but not the will to improve,go to war,and win in impresive fashion.

Haye will adapt and follow a gameplan perfectly,he has the skill and mentality to pull wins off.

From little glimpses of wlads latest fights,i see haye with his skills and abilities landing on wlad with out much problem. the chambers v wlad fight,chambers lands overhands from the outside(but had no power,and not from outside).

Haye has the quicker movement to get in attack and get out quickly again.

He has the stamina,strenght and power to stop wlad.

 

I'm not sure whether Haye was just not bothering to get out of the way, but Ruiz was hitting him with the jab with surprising ease.

 

Getting past Wlad's jab is going to be a real tough assignment. First of all its really fast, and it's very hurtful. If Haye tries to time the jab, that's going to be real hard as well because Wlad will use feints and mix up the jab with either left hooks, or straight rights to keep him guessing and I think he may get Haye over thinking and that can be dangerous. I think Haye needs to try and be aggressive for him to have much of a chance in this one and try to lead with his own attack instead of waiting on Wlad, if he tries to counter, I don't think it's going to go well for Haye at all IMHO. I do hope it's an exciting fight as I'm looking forward to it!!

 

Haye was scared of Valuev who can't even punch. He will get hit, he is not as fast as people are making him out to be.

Haye's only chance in this fight is one of his awkward lunging wide punches catching Wlad. If he had a better chin or better head movement, he'd have more of a chance, but his main defense is just backing off really quick and lunging in to have the exchanges on his terms.