Guys, If I see all the threads and comments here on ESB, most of you think the fight was a big let down. I don't agree, because Haye did what he could to catch Wlad with a swinger, but had no luck whereas Wladimir knew that he has to control the fight with his jab - everything else would've been too much of a risk. To be honest - I'm even surprised of David Haye, because he was in fact much better than I thought. He is a loudmouth, entertaining, but he goes too far for my taste, but in the ring he proved that he's a skilled fighter. Wladimir was only very rarely able to connect with his jab due to Haye's excellent movement and reflexes. I knew he's fast but I didn't know that he's that fast. I can understand that most of you are disappointed that the fight went to the cards, but it wasn't a bad fight in my eyes. Respect to both fighters. Wlad did what he had to do without taking the risk to get knocked out by one of the "hayemakers". David is clever enough to know that his only chance was to avoid being hit as good as he can and then try to pounce on Wlad with his swingers every here and then.
I wasnt disappointed. I predicted that it will be a clear 12 UD for Wlad with Haye not taking the risk. I was a but disappointed that Haye didnt actually take the risk, however thats what I expected. When you have 2 fighters with a lot of power and suspected chins than you rather see a boring fight than KO festival. Haye knew that Wladimir may seriously hurt him and Wladimir was smart enough not to go for a KO when he was winning the fight easily on points.
I expected Wlad's jab to make the difference. I believe it did play a role in Haye not getting inside. Granted, he weaved around a lot of them, but at quite a few as well.
Exactly. The problem was that both Haye and Klitschko promised knockouts and their high KO % and average chins indicated that a knockout was likely to happen. However if one looked at Haye's performance against Valuev and recent Klitschko performances against smaller opponents like Chambers or Ibragimov it was clear that it would be a cautious fight from both of them. I was actually surprrised that Klitschko went at Haye and that Haye would take risks.
The early rounds went as I pretty much expected. Wlad was always going to be able to comfortably out box Haye, but at some point I thought Wlad would land a telling punch and then look to end it and that's when the fight would get interesting. Either Wlad would finish Haye off with a big KO or Haye would catch Wlad trying to finish him off and then the fight would be on. Instead we got the most cautious display ever from Wlad. While technically and strategically he was flawless he did not close the show as you would expect from any fighter who can punch and is winning every round. Even when he landed that big right hand with Haye on the ropes he didn't go in for the kill, he couldn't have hit Haye any cleaner. The heavyweight division has always been the marquee division because we all like big men producing big KO's but what we got were 2 oversized fly weights having a tactical battle. No wonder the lower weight divisions have been getting all the attention.
I expected Haye to be more aggresive but be knocked out doing it. The thing is had to be more aggresive to win. Vlad was solid as usual. Just one of those things. Its always frustrating to watch the heavys face the Kltichkos and not do more as the fight slips away from them but theres obviously a reason why this happens.
