By Nick Fleming: So David Haye, it seems has gone dark. No one has heard from him since his destructive 9th round stoppage win over John Ruiz back in April.
Haye has been very vocal since moving up to the heavyweight division about his desire to take on and beat the divisions Ukrainian rulers, the Klitschko brothers. It seems now that Wladimir (the younger of the 2 Klitschko Brothers) is very keen to fight Haye. Indeed, he has made a point of calling Haye out on a number of occasions, most recently via a video posted to youtube. Haye’s response to this baiting has been surprisingly understated. In fact Haye doesn’t appear to have responded at all. This does seem out of character, after all this is the same guy who showed up to a press conference for an earlier arranged fight with Wladimir, wearing a t-shirt depicting him holding up the severed heads of both the Klitschko brothers. It is the same guy who constantly belittled and baited both brothers at every opportunity in an attempt to secure a fight. It is the same guy who has gone on record many times stating his intentions to be the ‘saviour of the heavyweights’ and unify the division. This period of prolonged silence is not only out of character, it has also led many people to question Haye’s true intentions. Many people are now saying that David Haye is scared of the Klitschko brothers. Emmanuel Steward, Wladimir’s Hall of Fame trainer, has likened Haye to a small dog that incessantly barks at the bigger dogs, but becomes scared and withdrawn when the bigger dogs begin to take notice. Haye has faced a backlash from boxing fans the world over who consider him to be all mouth and no trousers. In fact I believe that the reason for Haye’s recent behaviour (or lack of behaviour) has nothing to do with fear of the Klitschko brothers as such.
David Haye was, until his famous win over Russian Giant Nikolai Valuev, a fighter without much profile. Despite unifying the Cruiserweight division in only his 22nd fight with a crushing 2nd round KO victory over fellow Brit Enzo Maccarinelli, and despite his many gifts, such as his model good looks, his brash and charismatic personality, his lightning quick hands, and his truly chilling knockout power, Haye was still a relatively unknown fighter, even in his native England. Since that win over Valuev, Haye has become a marquee name in Europe. His first defence against an ordinary, and ageing John Ruiz drew a maximum capacity crowd to the MEN centre in Manchester, and did very, very good UK PPV numbers. I believe Haye has realised the earning potential that is now at his disposal and he is loath to risk it all, so soon against a Klitschko.
Haye is a smart businessman, and he has stated on many occasions that he wants to retire from boxing in the next few years. With that in mind I am sure he is interested in milking his new found fame for all it is worth whilst he can. And honestly who can blame him? Boxing is a tough sport, a fighter puts his life on the line every time he steps into the ring and David Haye has worked hard to get to the position that he is in, where he can make good money for relatively little risk. I certainly don’t begrudge him using his hard earned title belt to secure himself a future for himself and his family after boxing. It may also be a factor that the Klitschko’s now need Haye. They are fast running out of credible opposition. If either of them wants to be remembered as a truly dominant champion of this era, then they need Haye on their C.V.
I do not believe Haye is scared of either of the Klitschko’s, after all he stepped up and took on the ‘beast from the east’. There is no doubt in my mind that Haye wants to unify the division against the brothers, but first, if he wants to earn some more money and make the brothers sweat, then it is his prerogative. He too is a world champion.