by James Slater – It’s not a joke or a misprint; the Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight set for June 20th in Germany is off. All over the news, both on the net and on TV, the word has been revealed that Haye injured a hand during training for the fight, and he needs six to eight weeks so as to be ready to fight. The question now is, will Klitschko opt to take on another opponent on June 20th?
As fans know, the fight has resulted in a huge out-door sell-out at Schalke stadium in Germany, and the administration headache of refunding tickets and so forth may be too big a task to undertake, and the rescheduling of the fight for a later date may be ruled out as a result.. No doubt many, many fans have paid for travel and accommodation so as to be ringside on the 20th, and these same fans may well want to see another opponent step in so as to save the show. It’s all speculation at this point, obviously, but after all the talking Haye did going into the bout, Klitschko may take the attitude that Haye has lost his chance.
As for the angry fans, I can hear them now. Haye will doubtless be getting accusations hurled at him in the coming days suggesting he has “bottled it” and that once the big fight got close his nerve faltered. This opinion, which we are sure to be hearing soon, is not one this writer shares. Injuries, particularly to a fighter’s hand(s) are common in pre-fight training, and Haye is probably as upset as everyone else is right now.
Only last week end, we saw the heavyweight rematch that was Nikolai Valuev-Ruslan Chagaev II get called off at the eleventh hour, and now we have this, even more depressing news. In truth, no way near as many fans cared about last Saturday’s no-show compared to this one. Who knows, maybe Valuev will now take the June 20th date with “Dr. Steel Hammer?”
As for Haye, will his critics ever forgive him? For although further news will almost certainly clarify that David’s hand injury is indeed a serious and genuine one, some people will refuse to cut the guy any slack ever again.
Really, this fight being off is one of the worst pieces of bad luck to hit fights fans this year. Finally looking forward to a really exciting heavyweight battle that was sure to end via a violent KO one way or the other, the wait is now back on.
Hopefully, later today, perhaps with a TV appearance as opposed to a mere press release, we will hear more from the Haye camp.