David Haye: Giving The People A Reason To Believe… But In What?

David Haye: Giving The People A Reason To Believe… But In What?

By Joseph “The Mad Boxing Genius” Torres (May 25, 2010) Doghouse Boxing

For a while now, a long while, the heavyweight division has been in dire need of some excitement. When you have two very dominant heavyweights in the Klitschko brothers (who refuse to fight each other) and very limited competition available at best, you need someone who can stir up some drama. David Haye seemed to be the man to do just that. After unifying all four cruiserweight titles in early 2008, David Haye made it clear that he was going to test the heavyweight waters.

Now, when you have a cocky, quick-lipped man who knows how to fight, he’s bound to attract some attention. Whether Haye had the skills or the size to even be competitive with one or both of the Klitschko brothers didn’t matter. In order to make money in boxing there has to be interest which the heavyweight division has been lacking for some time. “The Hayemaker” did what he was supposed to do and captured the imagination of the people with his trash talking ways and outrageous antics. He even backed it all up by winning the WBA portion of the heavyweight championship against defending champ Nicolay Valuev (UD 12).

With pictures of severed Klitschko heads and smack talk about destroying the most dominant brother team in boxing seemed to be bringing interest back to the division, the once tranquil lifestyle of the Brothers’ Klitschko was disrupted as they lashed out at Haye and started calling him out. What irritated them even more so is when the boastful Haye balked on two potential fights with both of them. Most chalked it up to more mind games and if that was in fact the purpose, it worked. However, one can only play mind games for so long without actually making a fight.

Go to the discussion boards or the chat rooms and many are calling Haye a fraud. Since Wladimir Klitschko’s viral video calling out “The Hayemaker,” the Brit has been unusually quite. That does not help his case nor does it help his case when one starts to hear rumblings of an Audley Harrison match up for October during negotiations for a fight with Baby brother Wlad in September. And there is more! Ruslan Chagaev the former WBA champ recently won his title eliminator and wants to call in his mandatory shot against Haye next. You can’t help but believe this will be another fork in the road that will prevent the biggest fight(s) the division can make.

David Haye has done everything right. He’s shown personality, skills and excitement. He has done everything he could do to position himself in the best situation to make a boat load of money and prove his worth. Yet, he isn’t pulling the trigger.

Is Haye playing mind games? He has definitely ruffled the feathers of the normally calm Klitschko’s. Is he letting the fight cook so it can garner more interest which would lead to more dollars? Or is this confident Brit not as confident as we first thought?

Regardless of who’s at fault for the fights not materializing, it is hurting the mystique that was created for Haye as a viable threat to the titles. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets for heavyweight business, especially if the public is now seeing the best threat to the titles as a fearful opponent.

No one is in Haye’s mind and it is unfair to say that he is purposely ducking the Klitschko’s. His actions however aren’t doing him any favors and bringing back the division to its glory days are looking more grim then hopeful. Even if the fight is made next year, he’s losing credibility as time goes by and fans are losing interest. Do I dare mention Hopkins-Jones Jr. 2?

I believe what fans despise most about this whole situation is that two years ago Haye gave the public a reason to believe he would be the savior of the heavyweight division. It now appears like he’s giving them reason to believe that he is not. A real heartbreaker for anyone in the heavyweight business!

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