By James Slater: Fresh off his solid, if unspectacular split decision points win over Uzbekistan heavyweight Timur Ibragimov, who he defeated this past Thursday in his homeland of France, Jean Marc Mormeck has again called out WBA heavyweight boss David Haye.
Ever since he saw Haye survive a fourth-round knockdown and get up to batter him into submission in the 7th-round of an excellent cruiserweight title fight, has “The Marksman” craved a shot at revenge over “The Hayemaker” – and now, at 3-0 as a heavyweight, Mormeck believes he should get his chance.
“Since Haye is afraid of no-one, he should give me my shot at revenge in Paris,” Mormeck said shortly after defeating Ibragimov. “This is my challenge for him. He might be the WBA champion, and I respect that. But in my opinion he’s proved nothing in the heavyweight division.
“Give me three or four months to train with the right kind of sparring partners and I’ll be ready.”
Mormeck has some nerve demanding that Haye travels to Paris for a second time, for a second fight. You can’t blame the 38-year-old for aiming high, but why on earth would Haye go back to another guy’s home country, when he’s already been there, done that and beaten him? If Mormeck wants the chance at revenge, then he should be willing to go wherever Haye says he will for the fight. This is not to say a rematch of the 2007 cruiserweight battle has more than a, say, 2 out of 10 chance of happening, but if it does happen it sure won’t happen in France!
And as for Mormkeck saying Haye has “proved nothing” in the heavyweight division: Haye may not have lived up to all his boasts, but he’s sure as hell done a lot more against the big guys than Mormeck has. Wins over Nikolai Valuev and John Ruiz are not to be sniffed at (these two wins alone certainly outdoing anything Mormeck has done as a heavy), and at least Haye has picked up a major title.
And it is this title Mormeck wants; even though it is revenge over the man who stopped him and took his 200-pound belts that really seems to be what is motivating him. And who knows – to Haye, the rematch idea might just appeal. If the Londoner can’t or won’t get a fight signed with one of the Klitschkos, and if his mandatory defence against Ruslan Chagaev doesn’t happen next, perhaps Team-Haye will convince the British public that a part-two with the Frenchman is as fight worthy of shelling out for. Hell, 700,000 suckers in the U.K bought the recent Haye-Audley Harrison “fight” on pay-per-view (ashamedly, I was one of them).
At least Mormeck would try hard, and in the process he would surely land more than one punch!
There is no word yet on who Haye will fight next. Could it be Mormeck?