Fed up with the hate on the main forum aimed at both men, and wanted a decent and fair argument on this fight from you boys in here. Im taking wlad in a very easy 4-5 rounds KO of a guy i used to love when he began, but cant believe how big headed he has become, his attempts to bait the klits i really think are going to back fire on him big time, but of course he does carry power, and if he conects with wlads chin, what do you all see happening ? Also where would this leave both men in any top heavyweight lists in your opinion ? after we know the result.
Never really seen Haye fight, but I know hes been knocked out at cruiser and staggered badly by Barrett. Wlad is a big step up in class. If he tries to box from the outside he will lose. If he tries to get inside and bang with Wlad he has a chance. My gut says mid round Wlad KO. This guy is too small in my opinion to rough Wlad up and Wlad has improved his inside holding technique. I would like to see it turn into a fight and then you will see Wlad drown, the guy has no fighting ability.
In all honesty, I'm not sure who to pick, but I think its fair to say that David Haye has far more to gain legacy wise than Wlad does. If Klitschko wins, fans are likely to say that he was simply too big and strong for a smaller fighter who's chin had never been tested by a genuinely good heavyweight. If Haye wins, he will make the ranks of other great fighters who ascended up the heavyweight latter before him, ie, Spinks, Tunney, Holyfield, etc. Wlad of course will recieve mass criticism for his defeat to a rising cruiserweight as well as losing for the 4th time in a fight that he was favored to win. My heart wants Klitschko, but in the best interest of saving the heavyweight division, a David Haye victory is probably better for the sport.
You have to favour Klitschko, but Haye is a live opponent, more so than some of the guys Klitschko's been fighting. Haye's at least going to try and win, unlike say Ibragimov, is far more of an offensive threat than Thompson and isnt shot to bits like Rahman. I don't think the fight will go very long, it will end in a stoppage before the middle rounds. The threat for Klitschko lies in Haye's potshotting ability. Haye is pretty good at slipping a jab, he's fast as **** and very powerful, when he just boxes he's accurate too. Haye's best chance to win is on the counter and he knows it, that's why he's playing mind games, he wants Klitschko out of his comfort zone and being more aggressive. He wants Wlad to walk him down, like he did against Sanders. Haye can similarly spark him if he's managed to get into his head I think Wlad will win, I don't think the mindgames will work, I think he's too powerful and too cagey for Haye, I think they each have the power to ko the other but Haye is the more vulnerable. Hay'e a good fighter and a GREAT puncher, I just feel he's giving up too many advantages in height, physical strength and experience.
Good analysis, I'm still not comfortable going with one fighter or another, but you make a very good case for Wladimir.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be rooting for Haye, I watched him come up and I'm a fan, I'm just being realistic.
With all his talk Haye has put himself in a corner and will have to prove SOMETHING to his fans. Question is how will he fight Klitschko? Either LOT'S of movement and then flurry inside OR try and take the fight to Wlad and stay in the pocket and try to take Wlad out of his gameplan. Wlad is going to have to keep his cool and take the fight to Haye. Cut off the ring and use the hell out of his jab. Whenever he see's Haye making a move inside he better unload the right or an uppercut. Wlad should be working more on conditioning to be able to throw punches in combination as he already has the power. This fight has potential to be entertaining and could very well be depending on the size of Haye's heart. Speculation would have Wladimir winning on a late round TKO.
Just watched his fight with Barrett on youtube. He looks like a game guy. Quick hands, but in my opinion he looks very small in the ring. Fighting Klitschko is a big step up from Barrett who has lost a lot lately. Wlad is equally quick with his jab, so Haye is going to have to use his quickness to get inside and fight.
fighting on the inside isn't Haye's game. Haye's bread and butter is feignting his opponent into leading and then throwing the counter, he likes to fight off the back foot. Although there have been occasions when he's blitzed his opponents, or attempted to (and come unstuck in the Thompson fight after punching himself out). See his fights with Gurov and Maccarinelli (they're on youtube). An interesting fight was with a guy called Lasse Johansen which was something of a struggle, just the sort of fight I'd recommend to someone who wants to see what he's made of. One of Haye's plus points is that he carries his power into the late rounds but I don't consider that relevant in this fight.
The feinting and countering with powershots is a good assessment of his strengths stylistically. I want him to win personally, i've always liked Vitali though, inside the ring.
Honestly, I think Haye will win, and the fight will play out very similiar to Louis vs Carnera. Haye who has fought in a similar stance as Louis will do so agian, against a guy who looks remarkably similiar if not identical to Carnera on film, and will use Carnera's size against him. If Haye is successful with his mind games and Wlad comes rushing in for the knockout, which admittedly is doubtful, Wlad will fire his 1-2 combinations right over Haye's head, and be countered with very hard right hands that have the explosive capability to put Wlad on his back, and it will be done very quickly as Haye will undoubtably fire a left hook after his right hand and do whatever he needs to do to quickly floor the giant to the astonishment of viewers. However, I think Wlad will come in cautious looking to establish his jab, and Haye will still try to be a small target, but be forced to press the fight. Klitschko will have a lot of early success keeping Haye tenative, but once Haye times Klitschko, or catches him off guard and in a corner, he'll land some devestating counterpunches as he slips Wlad's jab or right hand, that will hurt Wlad and put him in no man's land. Klitschko will become incredibly frusterated finding out how difficult it is to hit Haye, but will come unequiped or unable to throw an uppercut to catch a crouching Haye. This was evident in his fight with Sultan Ibriganov, a man that did not come to fight, but to collect a pay check, but in the process managed to make Klitschko look lumbering and uncoordinated. Sultan was often open for uppercuts, especially when he was close to the ropes with little room to run, but Klitschko from what I remember only attempted one, but it looked unnatural and completely missed the target. Haye obviously is not in Louis' league at this time and likely never will be, but if he can manage to keep his right hand held high for the entire duration of the fight, he won't have to worry much about anything in Wlad's arsenal as the majority of it will go sailing over Haye's head or be blocked with his right hand. I think Haye will catch up to Wlad and knock him out in the 7th round, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if both are slightly unwilling to engage and the fight ends up going the distance in a disputed decision.... Hopefully that won't happen though, so I'll stick with my prediction of Haye by 7th round KO. Keep in mind that the punch that floored Carnera initially was a "wild" right hand that Haye has a tendency to throw. Another point to make is Haye is an inch or two taller than Louis, and Klitschko is an inch or two taller than Carnera, making them roughly the same size as their older counterparts. Look at them fight though..... You'll see glaring similiarities...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYp_OqrKhfc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovh8VkTxYI
Basically it comes down to if Klitschko can establish and maintain distance. If he can, than he wins.
He could be in trouble than. Wlad fights very tall, and has an excellent jab and jab hook off of the jab, definitely his bread and butter. I also dont see Wlad ever leading other than pushing forward with his jab but maintaing a big distance. Haye does appear to be pretty quick, and does like to feint and counter, so it will be interesting to see if he can use this tactic to score, but to feint and counter, you have to be at the proper distance, and its very hard to get into distance on Wladmir because of how tall he fights. Ill be watching with no expectations, I hope Im suprised.