I understand the inactivity being a factor in his ability to have a "dog fight", but his body failing him? That I do not understand. He's THE youngest 36 year old in Boxing, IMHO. Stopped like twice in 15 odd years is great going for any fighter. But what has caused his body to fail him?
Some people are just injury prone... look at Daniel Sturridge for example. He's a physical specimen of a bloke, but he's been hampered with injuries throughout his career.
It's odd that this problem seems to affect fighters going from Cruiser to Heavy; Toney suffered a ruptured achilles and a torn bicep tendon, Holyfield had to have both rotator cuffs repaired and he had a history of neck problems and back spasms. Now we have Haye with first shoulder and now achilles issues. All three fighters incorporated heavy weight/bodybuilding program into their training regimen to 'bulk up' to heavy, and (not making accusations about Haye here) Toney was twice caught for steroid use and we all know about Holyfield and the infamous 'Evan Fields' story. Steroid usage/bulking up is known to cause joint/tendon issues so who knows??
I think he's just injury prone, shame really because that added with the fact that he's made a lot of bad choices throughout his career has stopped him from reaching his true potential. Genuinely believe he is one of if not the most gifted fighter we have had over the last 20 years.
agree with that bomber, only 31 fights with not many rounds boxed. Other fighters have had it much harder. only thing it might be is the late night sessions or his bodybuilding/supplement use
Agree with the weight training and PED angle. Boxers arnt meant to bulk up unnaturally with too much muscle. Eventually ligaments and tendon fail due to the dynamic impact of fighting.
Haye has never struck me as a guy who is big in to lifting. In most of his videos it's either body weight stuff or cardio. No Olympic lifts or powerlifting.
If you look at Haye closely he actually only has a light ish bone structure, he has quite thin wrists and ankles and he's actually quite narrow across the shoulders for a bloke of 16st (the big delts give illusion of width but his clavicles are quite short) Too much muscle on a small ish frame, heavy training, and the explosive power he generates could all be factors in his injuries. Wonder about the Vegan diet as well, read earlier today that Tim Bradley abandoned that after suffering leg problems??
You have to wonder with all the claims he was already injured, why he didn't wear proper boots and why his ankle wasn't already strapped?
Because he's an idiot, he probably thinks a trainer shoe is better for his super fast feet to twist about in so he can land those big hooks, somehow it hampers his style. In my opinion if he'd been training in and wearing the right footwear in the ring his achilles would have been A okay. What an idiot.
Can you imagine the grief he would have got coming into the fight with leg strapped up. There seems to be a lot of conjecture about David's failing body but it might just be he injured his Achilles tendon and he used it too much before it was healed. He changed his whole stance to try and protect it and he just reinjured it badly in the Fight
I think it's a combination of things, I agree he might just be injury prone, some people just are. I also think Haye is/was too big for cruiserweight but too small for heavyweight. Haye may well have sacrificed his body for years drastically cutting weight and that can cause long term damage and then bulked up for heavyweight and it just might be too much an unnatural bulk for his frame now.
