David Haye: The Saviour of Heavyweight Boxing?

mr.mayo

I know I'll get a lot of stick for this but what the hell.........
A long time ago there was a man called Jesus Christ, Jesus was a nice enough lad, he was the preachy sort, loved talking about himself and always put on a show for anyone who was willing to watch him. The story goes that he was sent down from God to save us all. Anyway, Jesus is long gone but I believe that some 2000 (give or take) years later we are seeing a new Saviour, I am talking of course about the Hayemaker David Haye. The Heavyweight Division of Boxing has been dead for years - Since Lennox Lewis' retirement it has pretty much been dominated by two big Ukrainian brothers, a Russian giant and a quiet man. In the last year a new star has emerged, this brash, arrogant Briton is a breath of fresh air. Unlike the other heavyweights, his fights are watchable, you may even stretch as far as to say they are entertaining. In the last 6 months he has beaten the Quiet Man & the Russian Giant in impressive displays. Last night he battered Ruiz from pillar to post, he left him a bloody mess. Now that his mandatory defence is complete, he will start looking for a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers and begin the unenviable task of unifying the belts.
I'm not saying he'll succeed and neither am I saying he will fail, the whole purpose of this piece has just been to make a point that a lot of you seem to be missing out on - David Haye is the most exciting Heavyweight we've seen in years, he's not perfect by any mean, you can question many facets of his game but you can't deny that the man has rejuvenated the Heavyweight division, maybe he hasn't been the "Saviour" as I suggested but I'm sure you get what I was trying to say. Haye makes boxing fun, he's charismatic, he's cocky, he talks trash about hi opponent. Before Haye, I had basically given up on HW Boxing, I had only watched a handful of fights in the previous few years. The last time I was genuinely excited was when Roy Jones won the title. I now experience that same excitement whenever Haye is fighting, he's not like the other slow, lumbering HW's, he's a real athlete and his fights are always worth watching. He has a dodgy chin but that just makes them all the more interesting. I'm sure there are thousands of others who have been affected by Haye's rise to prominence. I had practically given up on HW boxing before he arrived on the scene but he has made me a believer again. Above all other things, Haye is a showman, he can get the casual observer interested and that is good for the sport

I guess the whole point of this has been to ask you guys to stop bashing him, obviously he's not perfect but nobody is. He's entertaining and quite frankly that's all I care about, if you gave me a choice between watching Haye and watching a more accomplished Heavyweight, I'd choose Haye every time.

T-K-O

Haven't watched the fight yet but I was impressed that Haye stopped Ruiz. However, the Haymaker can KO as many HW's as he wants but IMO it proves nothing until he fights and beats a Klitscho. Vitali and Wlad are two solid HW's, it's not their fault all the other HW's are overweight or just ****.

Vitali retired for 2-3 years ? comes back against the WBC champion and makes him look like an amateur.

joepenguin

Hayelallouya brother!! Yeah in fairness he is the only HW you can be sure of to be in a good fight. He wont take any unnecessary risks ala the valuev fight but cant see him in any more stinkers.... He is a dirty fighter though, would have loved to see ruiz clock him after the blatant repeated illegal shots.

consultech

"Saviour" of the HW division is perhaps a touch strong, it all depends what you mean though. His star quality is definitely there for all to see, and can only generate good publicity for an otherwise dead weight class.

For me, Hasim Rahman was the saviour of the HW division. Saviour in that he sparked out one of the most over-rated, boring, and dirty heavyweights of all time (braids in your open cuts anyone?). I still remember that unexpectedly delicious 6am Sunday morning.

cowzerp

The heavyweight scene is far from dead, its just not mainstream as it was without an american dominating the division, With Haye holding a title makes it a bit more mainstream but it will take the next top American to really make it the biggest thing in sport again.

consultech

cowzerp wrote: »

The heavyweight scene is far from dead, its just not mainstream as it was without an american dominating the division, With Haye holding a title makes it a bit more mainstream but it will take the next top American to really make it the biggest thing in sport again.

This is a very good point; although I think American fights fans embrace British fighters a lot more readily nowadays because of Ricky Hatton, and to a (much) lesser extent Joe Calzaghe. To that effect I think Haye will be huge in the US if he beats Klitchko.

walshb

I don't se Haye as a saviour, at least not yet. He doesn't stand out from the crowd IMO, as in, he is not the dominant heavyweight. I see both Klits beating him, and even Solis and Povetkin would be too much.

Do I find Haye exciting? No, not really to be honest. He is a ten second spurt fighter who then spends two minutes recovering.

Spazdarn

I didn't really agree with Haye's gameplan, he seemed awful rushed and only really looked for the knockout which is entertaining but that kind of mentality won't do him much good against the brothers... his defense for the Ruiz bout was non existent also