by Mark Lovell: WBA champion David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko, holder of the IBF, IBO and WBO belts, held back-to-back press conferences in Hamburg and London this week to promote their heavyweight championship bout, held on July 2nd.
Haye gave a stilted performance in Hamburg on Monday, the city where the heavweight unification fight will take place. Haye, who many media outlets noted appeared nervous, repeated his accusation that Klitschko’s opponents were sub-par: “For the first time he is fighting someone who is healthy, normally he fights people who are injured, coming off long lay-offs.” Talking of his victory over former WBA champion Nikolai Valuev, Haye accused the Klitschko brothers of ducking the Russian Giant, saying Valuev “didn’t match their little, fat American MO”.
The two fighters engaged in a six minute staredown and Haye pointedly refused to shake Klitschko’s hand. After, Haye mused: “I can’t stand Wladimir. He’s a fraud and I’m so eager to decapitate him that I could hardly resist nutting him as we were standing there. It’s the only way I could think of to wipe that smug smile off his face.” While Haye said he would bring Wlad’s IBF, IBO and WBO belts in Henry Cooper’s honour, one wonders whether the enormously popular London native would have approved of his countryman’s bluster.
On Tuesday, Haye was far more comfortable on familiar ground as Chelsea Football Club in London hosted the second conference in as many days. Haye was back to his usual, boisterous self and even addressed his subdued appearance the previous day, saying he has been concentrating on training. Perhaps acknowledging that language barriers were also an issue in Hamburg, Haye acknowledged that he wasn’t multi-lingual like “Mr Intelligence over there” and appeared to reference his refusal to shake hands by admitting he wasn’t the “classiest guy, most respectful guy in the world” – although that didn’t stop a repeat when the Ukrainian again proferred his oversized mit. The Englishman’s allegations that Klitschko was boring got a few titters in the audience and the now-typical accusations of killing the heavyweight division and robotic fighting were made.
Klitschko, who has in the last couple of years has attempted to bring some of his own hype to the traditional pre-fight build up, made barbs in return over Haye’s twitter use and Hollywood ambitions but mainly spruiked the fight, Hamburg’s Imtech Arena and praised Britain’s boxing fans. Klitschko also took umbrage with Haye’s statement that his previous opponents were bums, accusing him of disrespect, and promised to make Haye his fiftieth KO victim.
While many find the continual back-and-forth tedious and the lack of sportsmanship off-putting, the genuine dislike between the boxers appears to have garnered additional media interest, particularly in the UK. Animated press conferences will also provide HBO with some soundbites as it tries to once again sell heavyweight boxing to the American public at a time where the MMA grapple-fest is taking away so much exposure. With just over seven weeks to go before the Hayemaker and Dr Steelhammer meet in the ring, fight fans will just have to hold their noses and hope the action in the ring on July 2nd matches the hype.