Haye KOs Mormeck

Photo ©Jane Warburton/MMG - David Haye has skyrocketed to the top of the cruiserweight division by knocking out Jean-Marc Mormeck in seven rounds tonight on a Don King Promotion at Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan in Paris, France to forcefully annex the WBC and WBA world titles.

The 27 year old Londoner started off fast, working behind a heavy jab to launch a bruising body attack but the champion closed the distance and shook Haye with a cracking combination at the end of the second.

Haye regained control in the third behind the jab but was down in the fourth when Mormeck connected with a bracing combination of hooks. Haye beat the count and managed to land a few power shots on the oncoming champion to prevent Mormeck from running roughshod.

The champion continued to dictate the action in the fifth, pounding Haye at times with a powerful inside attack that the challenger managed to survive by using good movement and a stiff jab.

Haye regained his composure in the sixth frame, making Mormeck miss repeatedly while countering with accurate jab, right hand salvos but in the seventh, the challenger finally managed to nail Mormeck flush with a startling uppercut, left hook, overhand right combination.

Mormeck went down hard and while he beat the referee's count, the Frenchman was in no condition to continue and the Frank Maloney promoted David Haye was declared the new WBC and WBA champion.

On the undercard, French WBC Light Welter Youth Champion Ali Cheba, 23-0 (17), stopped Brazil's Wellington DeJesus, 11-1 (7), in the third and former WBA Light Welter titlist Souleymane M'baye, 36-2-1 (21), stopped Ameth Diaz, 23-7 (17), in the fourth in a WBC title eliminator.

The stoppages continued as European Union titlist Christophe Canclaux, 35-2 (21), finished ex-IBO boss Steve Conway, 34-9 (7), in three and cruiser Francisco Palacios, 13-0 (7), saw off Andrey Zaitsev, 4-8 (3), in four.

Light welter Olivier Bonine, 8-1-1 (1), outpointed Nuno Cruz, 4-7 (1), over six rounds.

London Calling. Haye vs. Mormeck

By Jim Furo In what had already been a good month for U.K. boxing, David Haye has now gained the top honors in the cruiserweight division with a seventh round knockout over Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck.

The fight, taking place in Mormeck's backyard, and at the same arena where he won the title in March, was an interesting fight on many levels. For starters, in this era of the divided championship belt, Mormeck was that modern day boxing rarity, a champion of his weight class that was not only largely recognized as being the best of his division, but also one that carried unified titles in both the WBC and WBA championship belts.

Other weight divisions could be criticized for having many title holders, but no real champ. Most would admit that at cruiserweight, Mormeck was, simply put, the man to beat.

And now he has been.

Wearing Union Jack trunks, and with a crowd that chanted "Mormeck, Mormeck" during the fight, Haye and Mormeck fought the fight fairly even through six rounds. Haye was caught in the fourth round by Mormeck but was able to pull himself off the canvas and perhaps win the next two rounds.
Haye was caring his guard low throughout the fight, but made up for this by fighting very effectively off the ropes and moving quickly around the ring.

The end of this action-filled fight came about a minute into the seventh round. Haye's punches seemed to stagger Mormeck into the corner, Haye than added a nice, well timed body shot. Moving out of the corner, Mormeck was met by Haye who fired a couple of shots to the face that were blocked by Mormeck. Haye then caught a slightly retreating Mormeck with a right hand behind the guard that landed flush.

It seemed that Mormeck had beat the count, but gave no impression of wanting to continue. Haye showed with that punch that he is certainly capable of landing a punch that can do damage to anyone in the boxing business.

Which leads to the second factor that made this fight so interesting. Haye now will look to make the move up to the heavyweight ranks and see what the future holds there amongst boxing's big, big men.

Although he has already fought at heavyweight, blowing out fringe contender Tomaz Bonin in one round in April, now he will be moving up as the top ranked fighter of his division and as a former cruiserweight champion. Other fighters have done this, most notably Evander Holyfield, who was able to use his undisputed cruiserweight title as a launch pad to become the undisputed heavyweight champion seven fights later.

What remains to be seen is whether or not Haye can make anywhere near the transition that Holyfield was able to make nearly twenty years ago. He brings with him some credible wins, one over Lasse Johansen and the other over Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni. These were two fights over game opponents that Haye was able to show heart (cut against Fragomeni and bloodied against Johansen) and work on his ring experience.

But the criticism is easy to point out, those were two cruiserweight wins and it will be a different ballgame when he steps up. Other than coming from a lighter weight class, the major criticisms of Haye is that he perhaps does not have the most solid of chins and that he has stamina and defensive issues that add to the problem. The stamina issue seems to be something that has been overcome and his one loss is one that can be easily chalked up to early inexperience, not some unchangeable flaw in him as a fighter.

What is the main question is whether or not his chin will hold up to a heavyweight blast. It is something that he will have to take with him into all of his upcoming fights, but the fact that his chin may be in question does not mean that he does not belong campaigning for a heavyweight title. He has shown that he can beat the best of the under 200 club and that is enough to make a run for it.

The heavyweight ranks will benefit from having Haye amongst their elite. David Haye is a natural fit for the glamor and notoriety that should come from being one of the world's leading heavyweights. Not only does he have a quickness and fighting style that is enjoyable to watch, but he is also a very charismatic fighter both in and out of the ring. When combined with a knockout punch, that seems as though it will come through very well in translation, Haye is potentially a huge star in the making.

Already a fairly well-known personality in his native England, a status that will increase dramatically after today, Haye looks to take the place in the always needed, but rarely fulfilled, role of being the glamor boy amongst heavyweights. The one who hangs out with Hugh Heffner at ringside, the one who is rumored to be dating celebrity singers and actually could make a living as a model, probably testing better amongst female shoppers selling a pair of underwear than, say, Nicolai Valuev.

And like Valuev, he is an addition to the heavyweight ranks that if one were to criticise it for having a lack of marketable fighters, you would have to dismiss that person's opinion for being more than somewhat pessimistic, or, at the very least, uninformed.

You now have uncrowned, Wlad Klitschko, who looks more and more legit each time out, amateur all stars Alexander Povetkin and Odlanier Solis (who Haye did respectable against as an amateur), two fair belt holders in Ruslan Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimov, American hopeful Eddie Chambers, Sam Peter, disapointing but still dangerous Juan Carlos Gomez, slow but huge punching Vladimir Virchis and perhaps Alexander Dimitrenko, amongst others. This is a heavyweight division that is underappreciated now, but seems to be working on having a fighter for everyone and real potential if all the pieces fall together.

Haye is an interesting and compelling piece of the heavyweight puzzle, one that will only attract more and more people should all of his pieces fall together.

Frank Maloney Praises New World Champion David Haye

British boxing has moved to the forefront of the world stage this past Saturday, when David Haye sensationally knocked out WBC/WBA Cruiserweight Jean-Marc Mormeck in the Frenchman's back yard of Paris. The people who have been tolling the death bells of the sport will have to keep at it because this was one of the best performances by a British boxer that I have witnessed in my 27 years in boxing.

It wasn't a classic performance necessarily but it was full of thrills and excitement as two gunslingers came together with the sole intention of blasting each other out.

Haye proved his boast beforehand that he is the most exciting fighter in the world today by climbing off the floor in the fourth round to stop the Frenchman in the seventh.

I've watched many fighters in my career and I've enjoyed many fights, but watching David Haye will put you on the edge of your seat. Not only can he fight, he brings the ultimate in excitement to the ring.

Haye has set the tone for all fighters in Britain; they mustn't be afraid to go anywhere in order to win a title. If you believe in yourself enough and can look good in winning, it doesn't matter where you fight or who you fight.

Haye is a throwback. If you look at his record, he has never ducked anyone and has always fought his best against whoever has been put in with him.

On Saturday night, David sent the handful of Englishmen in the Paris arena into raptures, while silencing the whole of France.

The boos and anger towards David Haye, and particularly my Union Jack suit, turned into cheers for Haye and everyone wanted to have their photo taken with the walking flag. It just shows you how a good fighter can turn a hostile crowd.

- Frank Maloney

2007, One Of The Greatest-Ever Years For British Boxing - Come December Will It Be Even Sweeter?

by James Slater: Just what is happening with British boxers right now? No sooner does one fighter hailing from the U.K capture a world title, does another one come along and prove he is the best in his weight division. British fans have been delighted by the fistic greatness put on show by the likes of Ricky Hatton and, more recently, Joe Calzaghe this year, as both men either rose to or remained at the very top of their respective weight divisions.

And then, last night in France, things got even better for British boxing, as cruiserweight powerhouse David Haye punched out Jean-Marc Mormeck to take the number one position at 200 pounds.

Throw in the U.K's other fine world champions that are currently reigning, in Junior Witter, Clinton Woods and Gavin Rees, and it's undeniably been a super year for boxing Brits. But could the U.K's pugilistic year of 2007 get even better very, very soon?

When he climbs through the ropes in Las Vegas on December 8th, against the reigning pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather, Ricky Hatton will carry with him the knowledge that his fellow countrymen have been very adept this past year at proving the experts wrong - in either winning world tiles, of defending them successfully. As such, Hatton will surely take heart and confidence with him as he tries to prove the odds makers wrong himself. Why can't Hatton do what Haye, Rees, Woods and Calzaghe have done? British boxers are on a roll! Now it's up to "The Hitman" to keep that trend going.

Sure, Ricky has what is arguably the toughest job of the lot. The trio of Calzaghe, Woods and Witter were narrow favourites in their fights, while both Haye and Rees were betting underdogs in their championship challenges. Hatton is a pretty much clear underdog, in the eyes of most people, anyway, and as such he has the opportunity to bring the best win of the year back to the U.K with him. How sweet would a Hatton win over Mayweather be for Britain's boxing enthusiasts? Would 2007 actually go down as the best EVER year for British boxing? Certainly, in recent memory at least, no year jumps out at you as having been a better one than the past 12 months - and there's still the possibility of a Hatton win at that.

As was the case over in America, people had felt, a few months back, that boxing was something of a dying sport - at least at the mainstream level. How wrong have those people been proved to be right now? Boxing is thriving in Britain, thanks, largely, to men like Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton and now David Haye. Quite simply, the crowds Calzaghe and Hatton are capable of brining rival those of the U.K's number one loved sport, in football and the numbers of fans it attracts. If over 50,000 fans show up - as they did at Calzaghe's fight with Mikkel Kessler - it's obvious we are talking about anything but a fading sport.

All boxing fans in Britain can rise together and both congratulate their fighting heroes and celebrate their great achievements. These same fans can also now cross their fingers and hope Ricky Hatton keeps the good times coming. The pride and joy currently being felt by boxing supporters from these shores has already been massively felt. If Manchester's finest fighter emerges with a 44-0 record after December the 8th those emotions will be at a veritable fever pitch!