Haye wanted initially fight for the WBA, the lesser champ...

Could very well have some merit, this hypothesis... considering his overwhelming life-goal was to fight Wlad, then when that got nixed, he went to Vitali, then he get's hurt, now he's all of a sudden 'stuck' fighting Valuev for a HW belt. I think it's all bull**** myself. Something's fishy about this whole thing to me...

 

If this was his plan from the beginning he should have gone after Valuev from the start. It would easily be forgiven since he only had 2 fights at HW and this would be seen as the right way.

No, I believe his initial plan was to really to fight the Klitschkos but he was just not up to it mentally.

 

We get it.

You don't like British fighters.

 

I do think he was dicked around in negotiations some (though given his idiocy and lousy HW resume, I don't really blame K2).

But what he does after the Valuev fight (win or lose) will be telling. Just let things play out. I think he'll become part of the WBA merry-go-round and will find reasons to reject any offers K2 puts on the table.

Was it his plan from the beginning? Probably not. I doubt he wanted to be inactive for a year. But I think he had 2nd thoughts about the contract he signed and his injury was dodgy as hell.

 

One thing that I have never understood about Haye fans is their contention that the heavyweight division needs a savior.

Here are two facts that are difficult to argue with when it comes to the Klitschkos.

In their last two fights they set records.

Vitali's fight against Arreola was the highest rated boxing match on HBO this year with over 2 million viewers.

Wlad's match against Chagaev sold out one of the largest arenas in Europe, 60,000 fans.


In Haye's last fight against Barrett he sold a paltry 6,000 seat in a 20,000 seat stadium.


Does anyone here thing Haye might not be quite as popular as he thinks? With all the antics and cardboard punchouts and masks and whatever...His fight against Valuev is looking like a bomb in the making. It has yet to secure a premium or basic cable provider in the US and the media interest outside the UK is nonexistent.

 

i don't know. there's some of us (like myself) that have no problem with british fighters but really dislike haye. at least his "personality"

 

[
Was it his plan from the beginning? Probably not. I doubt he wanted to be inactive for a year. But I think he had 2nd thoughts about the contract he signed and his injury was dodgy as hell.[/quote]



He never had an injury. Even his most ardent fans now admit that he pulled put because Sentena folded. And that's fine. But what made no sense and was just an absolute waste of time was his negotiations with Vitali. I mean, he knew that the contract would be identical to the one he got with Wlad...If he didn't like it, why even ask for the fight? He just made himself look like a coward and a fool.

 

In my eyes, if Haye can get past Valuev, it's a very good indication that he MAY be able to deal with a Klitschko.

Valuev will not go down easily, fights in a way that is very hard to beat and will make Haye fight on the backfoot and fight busily through the fight. Haye's biggest strength is his power and that will be somewhat nullified owing to how good Valuev's jaw is and also the fact that Haye has to punch up.

It will be interesting to see what his movement is like, how often he can get inside, how often he can land shots that hurt Valuev and whether or not he can withstand what will be a night filled with that jab in his face as well as the usual Valuev tactic of clinching, leaning on his opponent and draining their energy.

Valuev for his size and oafish fighting style, is a very intelligent fighter who fights within carefully set limitations - he's under-rated by quite a few in my view. Would he be where he is without his size? No. But then size alone didn't do much for Julius Long now did it?

 

What a stupid thing to say. Really. Just because someone dislikes Haye, does not mean they dislike every British fighter. Hell, I'm American and I can't stand several US fighters. You know, not every Yank is jingoistic.

 

Sounds like it might be the truth, but so what ?
If he beats Valuev he probably will fight the Klitschkos.

If he knocks Valuev out he'll be a much bigger sporting star overnight here in the UK (because let's face it, he's not known like a Bruno or a Lewis, nor Hatton. Amir Khan is way more famous than Haye), and he will want to cash in. He'll be a big star in world boxing.

He'll fight one of the Klitschkos next year.

 

Right, agreed... totally forgot about the tv bankruptcy. Damn, he does look like more the fool the more you remember about it.

I still think he should be quite glad the Chagaev fight went through smoothly as he could have had quite a breach of contract suit on his hands if K2 lost a bundle. I'm not a lawyer and won't pretend to know the angles, but "signing a bad tv contract" seems like a poor excuse to break another contract (proving the injury bogus, of course, is hard, but it could have ended up a real mess for Haye).

 

I don't think he's American and he makes threads slagging British fighters regularly, recently started making them in the lounge slagging the British in general and has said before that he has some grudge against Britain, apparently going back to WW2.

 

I doubt he planned to dick around for this long either but he did say after fighting Enzo Mac that it would take time to gain weight in order to fight at heavyweight and he didn't want to do it too quickly or he'd lose too much speed. He could have just been trying to keep his name out there but it does all seem a pretty elaborate rouse if that's all it was.