good post, even if i don't agree with a lot of it. i don't think many are saying he lacks any technical skill but certainly isn't technically elite. wlad has tremendous technique. jmm another and many many fighters out there. in terms of reflexes, ali had better. so did conn, walcott, roy jones, floyd patterson...
interesting take on modern heavyweight...for his size, he's extremely athletic but he's not notably bigger than ali was in my opinion. certainly bigger than floyd though was as champion, though comparable in post championship size wlad won clearly yup but certainly didn't hurt haye on many occasions. not a beatdown by any means but a thorough points win
Haye = Herbie Hide. Steps up and hyperventilates. Froze like a popsicle when he stepped up at heavyweight. I am absolutley not a Klitschko lover, but Wlad basically terrified Haye out of the business. We're going on 2 years since and he has had ONE f-ing fight against a domestic-level journeyman. Two things I have noticed about the ATG heavyweights: 1) They actually threw punches in their career-defining fights ... and won those fights for the most part. If they didn't win every career-defining fight, they had several and the wins outweighed the losses. 2) They actually got into the ring and FOUGHT. Something Haye hasn't done since stubbing his toe against Wlad. If he truly wanted a shot, he would have gone about fighting a few contenders and put himself in position to get another chance. So to answer the OP's question, I need more info: a) Are we talking about the 1-2 where Haye fights once every 2 years? b) Or is it the One-Toe we're discussing?
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-pQ0ajED8[/url] [yt]qE-pQ0ajED8[/yt] Both men were going for the Knockout but were fighting within their styles. Wlad had close opportunities were he nearly KO'd Haye only missing by a small margin. Haye was trying to finish Wlad with the overhand right. Wlad surprised me by coming out and taking the center of the ring and forcing Haye to the ropes from the get-go. By doing so it nullified Haye's ability to attack from different angles, notice how Haye had the most success when fighting in the center of the ring and not off the ropes. I noticed Haye would taunt Wlad and Wlad would grin and reply with a ****ing quick 1-2 that Haye barely slips. The biggest detriment of Haye's style was his low punch output, by not keeping a high level of activity he never put Wlad in constant danger, therefore because Wlad fights very tight he was never going to gas himself out. This was his biggest stylistic disadvantage apart from the height/size difference. Wlad shut down Haye's offense by holding his left arm to block David's Hayemakers from the right side from hitting his chin. In the latter stages of the fight he had Haye timed defensively. He would duck and roll off the punch with his shoulder. The most significant punch came in the Round 12 which was the only clean punch in the whole fight. It was a very cagey affair of An ambush fighter versus a Stand-Up European style fighter who boxes behind his Jab. Great defence from both fighters.
Haye was too scared to cut loose because he knew what would happen. Now, exactly what has he done since that fight going on 2 years ago to deserve another shot at the title? What has he done to show he even wants to fight? I'll tell you. He's run his mouth (about his toe mostly) and other than that ... ****-all.
He was trying to get a fight with Vitali, "Fight Chisora and the winner fights Vitali" This content is protected As soon as Boente saw Haye destroy Chisora in Five Rounds he totally backed off from the fight, and then Vitali faked a retirement late last year. I like the fact that he's gonna be active again this year fighting twice to put himself in a mandatory position.
I chuckle that Brits call Wilder a windmiller and think highly of Chisora -- that highlight has more Chisora windmilling than a tour of the Netherlands, and it's exactly like every other clip of Chisora throwing punches. It shouldn't take Haye a year to figure out that one fight in a 24-month period does not rate a title shot. He just pulled out of another one. Haye vs. Herbie Hide is a fantasy fight of the first order. The collective Britgasm over that would be sickening. Maybe Bruno could ref?
Haye's heavyweight highlights and HerbieHide's are remarkably similar. Herbie basically fainted when he fought a legit champ at heavyweight and Hay mentally checked out and refused to do anything that would risk him getting hit, turned pure survivor. Similar.
So now you are implying that David Haye would stand more chance against Vitali than a prime Ali ?. To quote you from the Ali v Vitali thread :- '' Ali would be like Vitali's bottom 3 lightest opponent! And prime Ali, I don't think Vitali ever fought anybody as small as that, he normally takes on the big punchers for baby brother Wladimir to protect his jaw lol (jks). If Ali was around today, nobody would pay money to see Vitali KO somebody like Ali. They would call Vitali a cherry picker and a bully! These threads are fantasy alright '' I think maybe it there should be some kind of IQ test in this forum before some people are allowed to post..........
Haye is rapid. Not Floyd Patterson quick but he's faster than Evander I reckon. I have Haye in my top 5 at cruiser. I dont rank him atg at heavy cos his best work to date has been in the cruiser division.
great point and if he hadn't chirped so much before the fight, we couldnt hang him with his own trepidation. but we can. he fought scared, he was scared and when his ambush style ( i like that) didn't work, he showed his plan b: lose. he has one way of fighting, against opponents he can overwhelm. otherwise, he doesn't have the skills to adapt
Haye's offense against Wladimir consisted of going back, rolling shoulders and letting one fly ever now and again to try and catch Wlad off-guard. It's hardly even boxing.
If he displayed it consistently against quality opponents (that's the best way to gauge effectiveness and versatility) then I could rate it. As it stands, his lethargic efforts against the two best opponents he faced aren't enough to go by. Anyone can look like Muhammad Ali against poor competition. I'll give the list a try though. 1.) Ali 2.) Holmes 3.) Wlad 4.) Louis 5.) Holyfield I'm not sure after that tbh, but these are my picks for the 1-2 and how well they used it. All very quick and crisp punchers.