Haye vs Valuev - LB's Verdict

And the new....!!


So David Haye talked the talk and he has now walked the walk. In beating the Russian giant Nikolay Valuev last night he has become the 1st British Heavyweight Champion since Lennox Lewis in 2003.

In the fight preview yesterday I stated that if David Haye could fight a disciplined fight and not succumb to his gung-ho urges, he could do it. This is exactly what happened and technically speaking it was a perfectly executed fight.

From the opening round it was clear that Haye was going to try to nullify Valuev's massive physical advantage by being as evasive as possible, and staying out of reach. In between dodging, weaving and sidestepping, Haye did manage to land the more telling blows with some sharp 1-2 combos.

In the middle rounds Valuev looked to have gotten the hang of the game as he continued to plod forward and managed to tag Haye a couple of times but not with anything that would trouble him. The bigger blows although coming infrequently were still coming from Haye and his apparently questionable stamina (not sure where that came from as it seems he learnt that lesson in the defeat to Thompson years ago) was nowhere to be seen.

Going into the last round it was clear that the fight had been a close affair, but this was chess not chequers and Valuev had not landed anything of note. In the 12th, Haye got the closest to backing up his claims of a being able to win by KO. He rocked the giant with a left then a right and as Valuev stumbled against the ropes couldn't quite finish him off.


So has this victory silenced the naysayers? I would like to think so but you can't please everyone. I've been seeing comments saying it was a boring fight and Haye was lucky and negative. To these comments i'd say go away and learn about boxing, this is not computer game bout. Do you expect him to stand toe to toe and trade with a man 7 stones heavier and with a massive reach advantage? Haye had a game plan and the discipline to stick to it. Add to this the fact he won a points decision in Germany which has always been a notoriously difficult place to get a fair decision, and the fact he had a suspected broken right hand since the 3rd round.


Next up is a contractually obliged defence and John Ruiz, which should hopefully and probably end up in a spectacular knockout win for Haye, then bring on the Klitschkos! Heavyweight boxing just got exciting again.