Why Haye Deserves Credit

Look, even though this was a dour, uneventful fight he fought about the best way anyone with so little experience at HW could against a man 7ins taller and 100lbs heavier.

He followed the Holyfield gameplan pretty clearly - lots of movement, short bursts of punches. Why did the judges see this differently to the Holy bout? I think Valuev himself may have something to do with that - he threw more tonight which actually made him look worse because Haye was about three miles away by the time his arm reached its full extension. Holy and Valuev walked around the ring, Evander occasionally thew a few pitter-patter punches and Valuev flicked out three jabs per round. Here, in trying to catch Haye more often he made himself look even clumsier than he did in the Holyfield fight - I wouldn't be surprised if we have a new record low for punch connection against punches thrown from Valuev tonight.

Haye's smart move - as well as dodging almost everything Valuev thew - was making sure that the punches he landed actually had weight behind them. If he'd thrown like Dirrell he'd have never gotten the decision, but because he landed solid, shuddering blows it emphasised his work to the judges. It showed that he was the only man landing hearty leather, even in very sporadic bursts.

For those of you who haven't seen much of David Haye, you must realise that he's an INCREDIBLY aggressive fighter - recklessly so at times. An incredibly aggressive fighter perceived to have a china chin and a massive stamina problem at CW, let alone when facing off against a man with such height, weight and reach advantages as Valuev - remember, Valuev is apparently a stamina sapper who usually finishes fights stronger than his opponents as he's worn them down with his sheer bulk. Haye didn't let him do that and came probably a couple of clean, hard punches away from KOing him in the final stanza.

It wasn 't pretty, it wasn't thrilling but Haye showed something that has been questioned by many tonight - real adaptability. He also showed that when he goes for it, he has a KO punch at heavyweight. For a cruiserweight with a bad chin and a stamina problem who has been 12 rounds only once previously in his career to finish the fight almost stopping a fighter - however mediocre - with such a size advantage in his third fight at the weight, and to do so boxing in a way that's pretty alien to him, that's not so bad at all.

For the record, I picked Valuev by stoppage - Despite being a big Haye fan, I simply didn't think he'd be disciplined to avoid getting hit. I'm pleased to be wrong.