Here Comes the Payne 11.09.09: Haye Vs. Valuev Special

Posted by Michael Payne on 11.09.2009

On Saturday night in Nuremberg, Germany David Haye won a majority decision against Nikolay Valuev to take the WBA heavyweight crown. Today I am looking back over his performance and seeing what’s next for the brash Londoner.



I have been discussing this fight for weeks in advance. It was one of those occasions where all the casual boxing fans as well as the hardcore are interested. Many people asked me my views and when I said I think Haye will win a lot of people thought I was crazy and couldn't see past the fact that Nikolay is so much bigger than Haye. My thoughts prior to the fight were that it would look like a complete miss match one way or the other. Either Haye used the right tactics and would win hands down or he would go in and try to blow Valuev away and then Valuev would man handle his way to victory, although it was a fairly close decision it really was a miss match in terms of ability. I am just glad Haye didn't get cocky and try and steam in to try and get an early night.

From the first round Haye did exactly what he needed to do. He stayed on his toes, made the bigger man miss and then attacked. There were some rounds where Valuev barely laid a glove on Haye and that was exactly how Haye needed it to be. Valuev may not be the hardest hitting heavyweight but you don't want a guy that big hitting you too often because eventually you will go down. Haye showed patience throughout the twelve rounds and also showed that the question marks around his stamina were not an issue.

The only thing wrong was that Haye didn't attack anywhere near as much as I would have liked and really left it in the hands of fate a little as to who would get the decision. Having said that, after the fight it turned out Haye had damaged his right hand in the 3rd round. After the fight Haye said "His head is solid, the hardest thing I've ever hit, it's like hitting a solid brick wall. I'm pretty sure my hand is broken, but it's a small price to pay for being the heavyweight champion of the world." If his hand was broken in the 3rd then it makes his victory an even bigger achievement.

The other thing that impressed me was the final round. Haye may have realized it would be touch and go and wanted to make a lasting impression on both Valuev and the judges. He landed a vicious left right combo which rocked Valuev and very nearly put him down. Nearly putting someone down is rarely seen as a major achievement, but when you are fighting Valuev it is. Nobody has ever been able to rock the giant Russian in that way before and it shows that Haye's power will be more than a match for any heavyweight.

Haye won with scores of 116-112, 116-112, 114-114 being given by the judges and it makes him not only the first Brit to win a version of the heavyweight title since Lennox Lewis but it also makes him only the second former cruiserweight champion to win a portion of the heavyweight crown, after four-time champion Evander Holyfield, who himself lost on points to Valuev last December.



Haye was rightly very happy after the fight saying "It means everything to me, from when I was a baby, I said I would be the heavyweight world champion. It's a dream come true. I've fought the biggest heavyweight champion and caught him with big shots. I made him look like an amateur. People doubted my skills, but I did enough to win. Here I am, heavyweight champion of the world and I'm loving it. I'm going to clean up the division."

Cleaning up the division as David puts it will be a whole different ball game as to do so he has the Klitschko brothers to contend with, however Haye showed he can adapt to different fights rather than just blowing people away as he was able to do at cruiserweight and he will need to adapt further to take on the Ukrainians.

First up though seems to be mandatory challenger John Ruiz who earlier on Saturday beat German Adnan Serin in the seventh round by a technical knockout. In this fight I see it being much more of a vintage Haye performance. He will look to stop his opponent in a fight where the dimensions of the too men will be much more evenly matched. Talking of the planned showdown after the fight Haye said "I don't think he is the most entertaining. He has won the world title before and you don't do that by being a bad fighter," he added. "I will be way too fast, I will knock him out."

Many people have said that it is a good thing for the heavyweight division to have Haye as a champion and I agree. Not everyone likes his arrogant nature, but no one can deny he is entertaining both inside and outside the ring. Ok I know many will disagree about the inside the ring part based on his tactics against Valuev but with 21 KO's in 23 fights he will have a lot more exciting performances than Saturday night. Outside the ring he is cocky and arrogant but it makes for exciting showdowns and we do need a bit more of that in the heavyweight division and I am sure he will have a lot more taunting of the Klitschko's to do.