David Haye proved that walking the walk was definitely better than mere talk. His latest encounter with Wladimir Klitschko left the Hayemaker the sore loser after he failed to wrest the world heavyweight titles from his formidable opponent.
The Brit was confident about toppling his Ukrainian foe, but his fists failed to fulfill the promise after the three judges voted unanimously for Klitschko. It was clear that Klitschko had the match in the bag after he let fly a stinging left hand that dazed the brash Briton. Haye also did not endear himself to spectators when he came in late, entering the arena 10 minutes after he was expected to appear. Haye would continue to get an excellent pummeling from his Ukrainian opponent before the match was over. He was down on the canvas eight times, although none of these out of a proper punch.
He also feigned a broken toe that limited his mobility.
“I might not have been at my best but I gave it as much as I could,” Haye said afterwards. “I couldn’t push on my right leg. Something happened in training and I did not want to pull out. I thought adrenalin would get me through it but it was tough. It’s incredibly frustrating.”
Klitschko did not emerge from the match unscathed, however. A cut over his nose stood to prove that Haye did manage to land the occasional stray blow. However, this was not enough to drive judges to grant him points. The total scores from the judges – 117-109, 118-108, 116-110 – fairly reflected the expected outcome of the match, especially given Hayes’s less than stellar performance, about which Wladimir had something to say: “I’ve accomplished my dream and unified all the belts, except the one held by my brother Vitali. I still think Haye’s behavior before the fight was disgraceful and the result speaks for itself. He criticized me for being too cautious but he was more cautious than almost anyone I have fought. He was very fast and I just did not get the opportunity to knock him out. I was hoping this would be my 50th KO. He connected a couple of times but I wasn’t hurt.”