Photo by: Public Address / Stefan Hoyer
The match between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko was supposed to be a legitimate spark for a heavyweight division that really hasn’t been at the same level it was in years past.
What boxing fans got on Saturday night was Klitschko dominantly defending his title. Haye never really became a threat, as he never really found his rhythm to make the bout competitive.
Haye couldn’t back up his bold words, and Klitschko dominated the fight from the opening bell with ease. The fight definitely did not live up to the hype, as the spark of enthusiasm for the heavyweight division was extinguished when the moment became the moment.
“He was scared to fight me,” Klitschko said. “I was expecting more of a challenge in the ring, but he was super defensive.”
This was the 14th consecutive victory for Klitschko, and he improved to 17-2 in title fights. The Klitschko brothers maintain all of the major heavyweight title belts.
“We’re celebrating with my brother that we’ve collected all the belts in the heavyweight division,” Klitschko said. “It wasn’t as spectacular as I expected, but I was trying.”
Photo by: Public Address / Stefan Hoyer
Haye blamed his poor effort on a broken toe he suffered three weeks before the fight took place, taking off his shoe in the ring after the fight to show it. This was expected to be one of Klitschko’s most difficult fights, but Haye fought sparingly. Haye seemed afraid to get inside his larger opponent because he didn’t want to take the punches to the head to get there.
“I couldn’t give everything I needed to, it was really frustrating,” Haye said in the ring.
Although Klitschko couldn’t knock Haye down, Haye went to the canvas due to slips and flops, until the referee had enough of that and gave Haye a count when he went down in the 11th round. Despite Klitschko clearly winning, Haye raised his hand in victory when the final bell rang.
The three judges scored in favor of Klitschko by large margins: 117-109, 118-108 and 116-110.
“It was subpar, nowhere near as good as I would have liked,” Haye said. “He fought the perfect game plan for someone with my style.”
For most of the fight, Haye didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances.The fight didn’t get interesting until the final round, where Haye landed a right hand to the head, and Klitschko came back to land a series of jabs and rights to Haye’s head.
“He’s big, strong and very effective at what he does,” Haye said.
Wladimir Klitschko is now 56-3 with 49 KOs, and Haye is 25-2 with 23 KOs.
Haye voiced that he would like a re-match with Klitschko once he’s back to full health, but if that fight happens, hopefully it’s not going to be more of the same.
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