Does everyone think haye would have won if his leg hasn't gone? Just watching them again on sky sports.
Possibly. Even though he was past it (and overrated, in my opinion, to begin with) I still think that he had a great chance to beat Bellew, who I don't rate highly at all. In the finish up, the story of the two bouts were injuries, clearly. Although Bellew won both, he didn't do so in the traditional sense by bettering his opponent on level terms. That's not to say he wouldn't have won, anyway, but i think Haye would've stood a great chance because he was simply in another league to Bellew. Normally, the victor under such circumstances would feel a bit empty. But it's Bellend's head that is so empty that it actually blew his ego up to excessive proportions.
Yeah. Either wide points or late stoppage. Prime Haye would have done Bellew in 2 rounds. The scenes in the ring after the first one were horrific. Bellew, Chisora and Penfold jumping all over after it took him 6 rounds to get a one legged old man out of there. Second one wasn’t much better either with Bellend calling out Andre Ward.
Yes Haye was in control. Once he got his timing working he was controlling the fight with his jab. Bellew was tiring just as much if not more than Haye. The fact that Bellew couldn’t knock out a one legged Haye is testament to how much Bellew was struggling in the fight.
Haye was injured walking in, had injections pre fight in the Achilles to get through the bout. (Wasn’t snapped at this point) Had a pre contract agreement in place for the AJ fight had he won, literally signed and sealed. Couldn’t afford to pull out and the genuine thought was he would only need to land one.
In a recent Shane Mcguigan interview, he said that David injured his left Achilles in training (hence the last minute Germany trip) and it was the right one he snapped in the ring due to overcompensation. He said that in the entire 18 months that he worked with Haye, he had done no more than 20 rounds of sparring. The 6th round was one of the most dramatic rounds of boxing I've watched, helped by the amount of money I had placed on a Haye win in rounds 1-6. I think a Haye stoppage was coming. Tony looked like the one feeling the pace and David was in a comfortable rhythm winning rounds, whilst Bellew jumped around doing the herky jerky. Haye had found the perfect opening in the 4th round.. Jab to the body, right hand over the top, left hook. I reckon Haye starts landing a couple more of those and we see Eddie Hearn holding his head up through the ropes in the 8th round.
In hindsight we all should have knew something wasn't right. I Rememeber the trip to Germany getting out and I can't remember the explanation they gave but for what reason would haye make a last minute trip to Germany other than because of injury. Haye I think would have pulled out in normal circumstances but because of the Fury pullouts he couldn't. He lost credibility because of those as well as toegate after the Klitschko fight. If he pulled out nobody would have believed him. There is a reason bellew is so thankful to Haye. Those fights changed bellews life and if haye pulled out the fight may never have happened.
Agreed Haye was winning Bellew looked terrified in the early rounds I remember Haye was jabbing well to the body he would've got to Bellew late. Even when Haye's leg was gone Bellew was still scared to put it on him until finally Haye had nothing left with such a horrific injury.
Yeah Haye was winning the fight, albeit his timing was poor. Reason for that obviously the limited sparring due to Haye being physically unable. Bellew could have pulled a rally in the later rounds which was possible as Haye always had stamina issues, so never say never. However the injury was a gamechanger in the fight.
Haye was winning the fight before the injury blew up on him. But that doesn’t mean that version of Haye would have beaten Bellew had the injury not occurred. As it was Bellew’s tactics to go for it in the second half of the fight as he knew Haye was carrying a lot of injuries. It goes without saying that prime Haye stops Bellew easily. But that version of Haye was too injury ravaged to beat anyone half decent who was able to be a bit elusive and be patient.
I thought Haye had looked comfortable early on albeit not very explosive and unlikely to do anything other than box to a decision with the potential for a knockdown if he timed his rights correctly. Like has been noted by others though, if Bellew had put the jets on in the last 3rd of the fight he would have had a good chance regardless of injury. I’d like to think Haye would have won the first but he was gone by the 2nd fight. It’s a shame Haye had those 4 years off. He could have done so much more in the game, and given what he already achieved that’s saying a lot.
He knew the leg was gone 2 weeks before the fight and should never have been near a ring. This was in addition to a career ending shoulder injury in 2013. Any live opponent would have beaten an old stiff going into the ring for the PPV Loot only.
I genuinely fell for the hype that Bellew would be Ko'd. I still feel a fool for that. Is it confirmed Haye would have had a AJ fight? Let's be right if he won v Bellew in a half decent way that fight would have been low risk gigantic reward for Joshua!
From what I know it was essentially in the pre contract agreement to the Bellew fight. I reckon Haye in his arrogant self reckoned he could bingo AJ, even in his condition. Cruiser Haye 100% finished AJ, an absolutely horrific style for AJ.
