WBA heavyweight champion Britain’s David Haye takes on WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in one of the most anticipated fights of the decade.David Haye will never do it, never. It’s impossible, really.
When he fights heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko July 2 before 50,000 in Hamburg, Haye certainly can upset the odds and lay claim to the throne.
Simply put, it’s a matter of Haye’s suspect chin (see super middleweight Lolenga Mock decking him in video, going way back to Sept. 26, 2003, not betraying him before he crack Wlad’s lantern jaw with some Hayemakers.
But upsetting Wladimir is not what many think is the impossible feat.
You see, in what may be the most intriguing storyline in boxing these days, Hayes continue to insist against all sensible arguments that, after he whips Wlad, he will retire from the ring on or before his 31stbirthday on Oct. 13.
One keen UK fight observer, Daily Mail pundit Lord Jeff Powell, told me Tuesday he thinks Haye is sincere and dedicated to fulfilling this somewhat odd double goal.
“I think David really means what he says,” Powell told me by phone from London. “He’s got a movie lined up after the fight. It will be shot in Miami, based on his life and he’ll play himself.
“David says he’s got big plans away from boxing so I see no reason to disbelieve him. He doesn’t waver on the retirement deadline or on how he will shock Wladimir.”
Powell, who just visited Klitschko and trainer Emanuel Steward at the champ’s Austrian mountaintop training lair, said he fancies the British Bulldog's chances.
“David’s got the punch to do it although we know how formidable Klitschko is,” the veteran columnist said. “I have an optimistic feeling. Maybe British boxing is on the upswing, first the continuing success of Carl Froch and Amir Khan in the lower weights and now Haye has the big opportunity. Haye winning a heavyweight crown would really be the icing on the cake.”
It’s nothing new, really, Haye has listed quitting while he’s still age 30 as a premier goal for a couple of years.
“I want to get out with two things, money and marbles,” Haye said as quoted by Pat Sheehan in huge tabloid The Sun on Nov. 15, 2010. “I don’t want to ruin my health.”
As bad examples of fighters who lingered too long, Haye usually mentions Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and the still wobbling Roy Jones.
Klitschko, whose fellow champ and brother Vitali fights redoubtable Pole Tomasz Adamek in Poland on Sept. 10, is going to come out fast and aggressive, or at least Haye thinks so.
And the Hayemaker says he’d like a fast pace.
“I’ve got to put him in a dogfight real quick,” Haye said.
Haye had orginally planned to thump both Klitschko Brothers, then hang it up at age 30 but obviously Vitali won't face Adamek on Sept. 10 and then fight again the next month.
So Haye scratched the beating both brothers goal.
If Haye does both, whips Klitschko and then quits the ring, it will be one of the most fascinating fistic stories ever.
The smart money says he won’t win and then abruptly quit.
But, then again, the smart money is on Klitschko and his 49 knockouts in 55 victories.
Won’t it be fun if the smart money winds up looking stupid?
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