Why Boxing needs a David Haye victory against Wladimir Klitschko

The Heavyweight division in Boxing has always been considered the marquee division of the sport. Its the division in which generates the most money for the boxers in the past, the one which generates the most excitement for the fans. That had been the case up to the turn of the century, until two brothers from the Ukraine began to dominate the Big Man division. Vitali Klitschko won his first World Title in June 1999, with younger brother Wladimir winning his first in October 2000. Taking nothing away from the talent of these European pugilists, but they are not the charismatic, enigmatic, egotistical, larger than life characters of yesteryear.

When you think of the sport of Boxing, 99.9% of people would probably think of Muhammed Ali. He captured peoples hearts, peoples imaginations and peoples attention like no other boxer has ever done before. He was Boxings first true celebrity. His fights against George Foreman and Joe Frazier will forever live in Boxing folklore as two of the most important bouts ever. The point is that his skill in the ring was coupled with an outrageous and often bizarre personality.

Then, in 1980’s, a man came along who would redefine the Heavyweight boxing scene once again. ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson won his first World Title in November 1986, at 20 years of age, to become the youngest man ever to win the accolade. He later became the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion and looked almost unbeatable in the process. He was dubbed the ‘Baddest man on the planet’, a title which later would become the ‘Maddest man on the planet’ as Tyson was convicted for rape, bit Evander Holyfields ear during a fight, carried on punching an opponent after the bell, tested positive for cannabis and got a Maori style tattoo on his face (although not all at the same time).

Undeniably the last great Champion was Lennox Lewis, the Canadian/Brit who defeated both Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson and was the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion between 1999 and 2003 (with a gap of 6 months), making him the last man to do so. In his last fight before he retired, he defeated Vitali Klitschko in what many believed was a fight he was losing before Klitschko was stopped due to cuts. Lewis then retired and the reign of the Klitschko brothers began.

The Klitschko brothers have not been beaten in a boxing ring since Wladimir lost to Lamon Brewster in April 2004. During this time the main World Heavyweight titles have been held almost exclusively by Eastern European boxers with the personality of a granite slab. Many within the sport have declared the age of the Heavyweights to be over, with the focus of the sports biggest fights mainly in or around the Welterweight to Middleweight divisions. This undoubtedly has to be down to the fact that their have been no characters, let alone talented Heavyweight fighters, come out of Britain or the USA since Lennox Lewis. Step forward David Haye.

‘The Hayemaker’ is a one man promotional juggernaut. He has the ability to single-handedly promote fights to the point that people other than mainstream boxing fans actually want to see his fights. He is all the things that Ali was out of the ring, antagonising opponents, wowing the media, showing up on none boxing shows and making people want to pay money to see him fight. When he fought Nikolai Valuev, the 7ft WBA Champion at the time, he was given a slim to no chance by almost everyone. Haye had a known glass chin, was a former Undisputed Cruserweight Champion who many said didn’t have the power to stop Valuev. Haye embarked on a mission to hype the fight, which worked as over 800,000 people bought the pay-per-view event in the UK alone. Haye also backed up the bravado by defeating Valuev on points, almost knocking the giant out in the process.

Since then, Haye’s stock has risen on both sides of the pond. The Amercian boxing community has taken to Haye as the saviour of Heavyweight boxing. Its not that people don’t respect the Klitschko brothers or anything they have achieved, its just that they want to see fights in which they are entertained. The Klitschko’s win fights, thats been proven, but heavyweight boxing has suffered because of it, and only with the Klitschko’s losing of the main belts can the Heavyweight division begin that long climb back to the top of the tree. Its a long climb though, as another reason Heavyweight boxing has suffered is the distinct lack of talent, something that David Haye himself can’t remedy (especially if he retires after the fight). But its a start. That’s what it needs the most, a kick-start. And hopefully it will come with a triumphant David Haye on Saturday 2nd July.