Haye wasn't eating Wlad's Jabs though. He was actually managing to slip the jab quite well, just couldn't do anything from then on. The reason I brought up this thread is Adam Booth's tactics he sets out for his fighters seem to be the same every time, try and frustrate you're opponent and hit him when you can, but don't commit too much. The emphasis is all on the not getting hit part of 'hit and don't get hit' but he doesn't seem to have got his head round the 'hit' part...
Haye with Freddie Roach in his corner would have been a different story. No excuses, though, Haye wasn't good enough on the night. I've always said a world class trainer makes a world of difference... just look at Wladimir.
he has fought every one of his heavyweight fights like that and george groves fought against degale like that sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt i think for groves it worked due to degales immaturity and the idiot in his corner. Against Wlad though he's going against an outstanding athlete whos dominated the division for years whos an intelligent man with a top class trainer everyone knew that if haye wanted to win he would have to come out all guns blazing.......... everyone apart from team Hayemaker
You're just overrating Haye. Doesn't matter who he has in his corner, Wlad is always winning that fight.
I believe Adam's become a rather cautious trainer recently. I think he's relied a little to heavily on Haye's athletiscm/speed in gameplans for fights against bigger men. He seemed to have the right idea about the phases of Wlad's defence but i think the rest of the tactics wasn't what Haye needed to do to win fight. Relying on sporadic right hand's from range wasn't going to be enough. Also when Groves fought Kenny Anderson he boxed far to much off the back foot and far to close to the ropes. I think Adam allows the opponent to have the initiative and doesn't seem to grasp the fact sometimes a fighter isn't comfortable up against the ropes against a pressure fighter. Against DeGale and Valuev it looks great but against a fighter who enjoys coming forward and used to attacking opponents on ropes it spells danger. He's got very good characteristics in the corner he's calm and focused and shortens the advice down to a fight in 1 minute nicely but lacks the ability to adapt in fight IMO. He's still learning himself but i think he's fell into this habit of fighting off back foot to cover up the dodgy biscuit tins Groves and Haye have but Groves was hurt on back foot and won the fight when going back to primal instincts and attacking.
Retrospect is a great thing to have. But mevertheless when one strips Booth's strategy down to its bare essentials, it wasn't ideal. I am pretty much convinced that nobody is gonna beat Wlad while countering off the back foot. Given his disadvantage in reach, and the distance at which he was fighting, Haye would have been very lucky to land that looping right hand consistently enough to hurt/finish Wlad..... He was essentially put in there with a 'punchers chance' strategy; and one made even more difficult by his backward movement. Given what his chances essentially boiled down to going in, (a lucky punch) he might as well have been sent out to take Wlad's head off from the bell. If he was able to back Wlad up, a lot more shots/openings would have been there, and he may well have had a better chance to put him away.
Whilst the tactics clearly didn't work I cant see Haye trying to push Wlad having any success at all.
One thing that needs to stop is people saying Haye was dominated. Far from it. Wlad won clearly cos of the points system but as a fight he never took complete control and was arguably stunned more than Haye was.
bollocks. a puncher with Haye's power always has a chance. fighting a cautious counter punching strategy against an opponent with a huge and powerful jab wasn't really the best idea from Booth. He got a bit carried away with the success of his tactics v Valuev and DeGale, who both should have punished him for it. Trying it against a champ of Klitschko's stature was always a bad idea.
I agree, entirely. The majority of the rounds were close. There were some positives from haye's point of view.
Haye barely did anything in the second half of the fight. He was seriously negative, he fell over often, and when he did launch any offense he looked exposed as a very limited fighter. Actually it was pathetic. I mean, as the fight wore on, he couldn't have looked much worse. With Wlad coming forward, pressing the action even slightly, Haye was being dominated, he was being herded around, even if not many punches were landing.
There may have been some positives but he was also probably on the floor more than any heavyweight in a title fight ever. That is to his detriment. Just as Hopkins' feigning (at least one) low blow against Calzaghe was.