Haye's cut in sparring changed heavyweight boxing forrver

A defeat impacts your career far more these days, especially against someone of McDermotts standing.

 

Most people backed Haye to starch Bellew in first fight. Bellew’s win was wrongly dismissed due to Haye’s injury and people ridiculed him for not being able to spark him. Fact was, when a heavyweight wants to survive, they can cover up and ride shots which Haye did brilliantly. Kevin Johnson is a prime example of this...if he opened up and committed to shots he would get bingo’d. So you therefore had a narrative for the second fight, from boxing fans through a general dislike of Bellew and an unwillingness to give him credit.
Haye opened up in that second fight and got smashed up, something I believe would have eventually happened in the first fight had his achilles not ruptured.

I don’t want to sound like an after-timer, but I was telling anyone who would listen on here that Bellew would beat him (both times) because he was injury ravaged and finished years before. Fury would have stopped him Cunningham style.

 

Can you think of any specific examples of elite level fighters who were held back by losses that happened in their first year as a pro?

Did any fewer people pay to watch Manny Pacqauio because he was flattened by some domestic journeyman when he was a kid? Was Bernard Hopkins held back from reaching his true potential because people couldn’t get over him losing a 4 rounder in his pro debut?

On the way up “-1” looks worse than “-0”, but once you’re established it really doesn’t matter that much. With a loss to Big John on his record, Fury’s career pans out much the same. The guy went viral punching himself in the face and has been flat on his back against cruisers and journeymen. It’s not like he was widely respected before he beat Klitschko, and in the heavyweight division you are as good as your last fight.

 

To be honest off of the top of my head I can't but I think it could have changed the career path for Fury a bit, not having it all his own way, would he have won the rematch having realised that his approach was all wrong, how would he have reacted to defeat that early on in his career, I don't know. It's impossible to know. Defeat certainly destroyed David Price, a man that beat Fury in the amateurs, completely ruined him, although a KO has a different impact on you I know.

 

Retrospectively I think he'd have beaten Haye without a large portion of trouble. We forget that Haye at CW is very much not Haye at HW.