Al Bernstein on David Haye

Adamek actually engaged and tried something. Although it was an utter failure he tried and fell totally short. Haye was a no show. Complete absence of effort complete absence of courage, only a rope a dope to survive than a cowards tactic of continually lunging to the ground to bait the ref to deduct points. At the end he has the nerve to come out with an all time lousy excuse for his shameful performance. In addition, Vitali was the much better Klitschko (aggression wise, preparation wise) in the last fight. Wlad was just thesame same ol excellent but cautious fighter.

 

Yeah, I think Haye may have underestimated Wlad right up to the opening bell. **** got real for him in that first round, where he realized that in order for him to have a shot at winning, he would have to stay clear of those jabs at all costs, and try to catch Wlad with something.


That was his only shot, and it didn't pan out. And as you said, people are pissed off that he didn't go in there and allow himself to get jabbed to sleep and KOd.

 

Did you see Haye even attempting to WIN the fight? Because i certainly didn't. It was all about survival against Wladimir.... no substance

 

Adamek had nothing to offer. You guys can praise him all you want, but he was carried through most of those rounds anyway, so I don't really buy all that "warrior" bull****.


And to say that Haye was a no-show just displays a lack of objectivity. He gave Wlad the best fight he's had in years. And he busted Wlad's face much more than Wlad did him. And he landed the best punch of the fight, forcing Wlad to use his disgraceful tactic of holding for damn near 15 seconds. (Shame on the ref!)

 

Yeah pretty much this.

I dont have too much beef with Haye, I hope he would fight Vitali, I think it could be interesting I also think despite what people say Haye could afford to be a little more gung ho against Vitali because he isnt the puncher wlad is.

 

I could imagine if Haye had the amount of nuthuggers wlad did and wlad had the haters haye did the argument would be "Haye, despite his size disadvantage made wlad look like ****"

obviously not true but thats basically what would be said if the fanbases were reversed

 

Povetkin
Adamek
Peter
Chagaev
Chambers
Thompson
Helenius
Dimitrenko
Arreola
Pulev
Ustinov
Boystov
Juan Carlos Gomez
Solis



Throughout Haye's career at HW there was so many very close decent match ups against prime opponents that he could have made outside of the Klitschko's from the above list, fights I would have been quite happy to see and would have given him props for. As it is his legacy at heavy will be a conclusive losing effort against the champ and two victories over shot former half decent fighters. Very disappointing, especially considering all of his bluster about the division. I would have had no problem with the Harrison fight if he had of been an active fighter and fought again a few months later, just a waste of legacy, good easy money fight similar to Wlad vs Mormeck of course though so fair enough.

In theory Tyson Fury could well match his HW accomplishments within 2 years fairly easily.

So all in all this leaves Haye with a total legacy of in my order of his best wins.

1. Valuev. Split decision win that could have gone either way but made Haye a genuine top 10 fighter.

2. Mormeck. Came back up off the canvas to KO Mormeck in style in his best performance and his best fight to watch overall.

3. John Ruiz. Got rid of this joke fighter once and for all.

4. Barrett. Comfortable enough win to make Haye a top 50 HW.

5. Audley Harrison. Some would have Enzo here but I never rated that clown and he has gone on to show his true level since that fight getting KO'd in probably his next 5 fights or so. Audley was garbage and was disposed as he should have been.



For the record I think Haye will be back within 5 years. Certainly if Wlad drops a belt or Vitali retires. If Fury grabs a belt somewhere along the line I suspect Haye would jump at that fight too.

 

Yes, I did.


But what I didn't see was Haye allowing himself to get jabbed and jabbed. That would have surely been a KO loss.


His strategy was to go in there and stay clear of the jab and catch Wlad with a power shot. Haye never intended to outjab, outbox, and outwork Wlad. I don't know why so many people think that if he didn't try this assinine strategy aginst a guy like Wlad, that it means he wasn't trying.

 

I think non effort is a bit low. I think he did try, but maybe not to the amount that we liked.

Still think he gave it a go, though.

 

Haye threw and landed more power punches than Wlad

Haye does not utilize a jab, he uses feints instead

it was a normal performance by haye, wlads jab was the difference, even though haye made wlad miss 80% of his jabs, the 20% he did land was the difference in many fairly close rounds considering he has an atg jab and is much taller why the **** is that surprising

 

Yeah, I agree. There are so many people who give Haye a load of stick for losing to Wlad. He lost to a better fighter...so what? It happens in the sport, so I don't know why people are judgmental towards Haye for losing. He simply lost because he wasn't good enough.

 

I agree with almost all of this, but there is no reason to rewrite history.

Both fighters landed a few powershots. No way to tell who felt them the most. I believe the shot Wlad landed in the 6th, where Hayes head flies half a meter backwards, was better then the windmill punch Haye connected with in the 12th. But hey, I am guessing.

And Haye was more bruised then Wlad.

 

Once again, I think Haye put up an excellent effort, charging in with his windwill punches over and over again, even though Wlad neutralized all he tried.

But Haye did not land more power punches then Wlad. Those clean, hard rights Wlad got him with outweights the one good shot Haye landed in the 12th.

 

Haye did better than any opponent Wlad's faced since the first Peter fight. He actually caught Wlad with solid shots. No one else has in five years. The criticism of Haye is, obviously, because of all the talk, talk, talk, then the very 'safe' approach in the ring. After a few rounds, he knew he was going to have to risk getting KTFO in order to win the fight. He wasn't willing to do that. Wlad knew he could win the fight on his jab alone and never have to risk getting KTFO. That was the difference. If you challenge for the HW championship of the world, you have to put it all on the line. Haye wasn't willing to do that. But if Have had been a no name fighter who fought the same fight against Wlad, everyone on ESB would be screaming for a rematch and saying he was the next big thing at HW. Haye dug his own grave by the way he promoted this fight.