David Haye loses big fight to Wladimir Klitschko but blames broken toe

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Created on Sunday, 03 July 2011 00:00

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David Haye loses big fight to Wladimir Klitschko but blames broken toe

British boxer says he broke his little toe in training
Injury prevented him pushing off on right leg

Jamie Jackson at the Imtech Arena

Wladimir Klitschko was the man who could at least smile in the rain after taking a unanimous decision over David Haye in their disappointing world heavyweight unification title clash, with the Bermondsey fighter revealing afterwards that he had broken the little toe on his right foot in training.

Haye's decision not to cancel the contest will be questioned, as once he entered the ring it was his reputation and WBA crown on the line, whatever problems he was carrying.

The 30-year-old stated he could not push off on his right leg due to the injury. This may explain, a little, his disappointing display during 12 rounds that did nothing to improve the sinking reputation of this division.

Klitschko was as culpable in this. To his IBO, WBO, IBF and Ring magazine belts he now has added Haye's WBA belt. But the 35-year-old cannot be proud of his own lumbering part in this piece. The judges returned a score of 117-109, 118-108, 116-110 for Klitschko, and it was difficult to argue with their verdict. Coming to Germany Haye knew he required a knockout, or 12 rounds rammed with the stardust punching he has displayed throughout his career.

Instead, the 30-year-old spent too little time squeezing the angles to find a path to Klitschko's chin, and too much slipping to the floor, for which he will no doubt cite the toe problem.

The downpour that lashed the Imtech Arena ahead of the bout continued once the bell finally sounded to start a contest that had been threatening to happen since 2009, when the original clash was cancelled due to a back injury suffered by Haye.

Haye had predicted that he would end the bout by the sixth round. But that juncture had long gone when, in the 11th, he found himself in the deepest trouble he would have to negotiate.

This is a relative statement though: the standing count given by Genaro Rodriguez, the referee, occurred only because Haye slipped under some hardly punishing action from Klitschko. Haye had also predicted that his opponent would come out quicker than the usual stationary approach that had taken him to the 55 wins, of which 49 had been knockouts, his record showed before this outing.

Yet in the first round Klitschko ambled out and squared the ring off while Haye fell over swinging at his opponent, establishing the pattern of the evening. The Ukrainian boxer may have got his jab working instantly but just could not pin Haye down.

For the second, Haye again attempted to unload the feint-then-roundhouse-right that would be his only attacking strategy throughout. Later he did connect with the bigger man with a left, but moments after that he was yo-yoed back by a clip from Klitschko that drew a cheer from the home man's supporters.

The third round had Klitschko pawing the air in front of Haye with that jab. But the pair spent much of the three minutes in the centre of the ring still largely shadow-boxing before Haye launched fire that rocked Klitschko with a right, and the roles were reversed as the taller man then worried the 30-year-old. A clubbing right, then two lefts, hurt Haye – though he would come up smiling, and goading, Klitschko.

In the fourth, Klitschko did the greater work at the start. He managed to keep motoring Haye back, and also left a heavy arm dangling on him that sapped his strength, before the clinch was broken up by Rodriguez.

Haye's camp had objected to the Chicago official beforehand, claiming that he allowed Klitschko too much leeway with this roughhouse stuff in the previous bouts he had officiated. But, overall, there would be scant sign of the tactic on the night.

In round five again action was once more a difficult commodity to find, each boxer apparently not wanting to make a first mistake that could leave them open. Klitschko again edged the three minutes, which featured the by-now regulation Haye slip when the Ukrainian had him dancing back from a right that stung before he could escape.

Haye had promised to find the gaps to avoid the Klitschko cattle-prod left-jab but so far he had failed to do so. And he failed throughout. The rain, having abated a little, was again hurling down, while around the canvas during the sixth round a first smattering of boos were heard. As the pugilists walked to their corners for the closing bell, Adam Booth, Haye's trainer, was surely informing him to move up a level.

In the seventh Haye, again, sniffed canvas as more stumbling footwork had him careering to his knees, though Klitschko did have a point docked for pushing him there during a 180-seconds that were the worse of the fight.

A roundhouse right from Haye commenced the ninth round but after this, the pat-a-cake fists of each man resumed. After a word from the referee, Haye did manage to harry Klitschko with some work. But still he could not find, and test, the 35-year-old's chin.

Klitschko began the final stretch of the bout trying to button Haye's nose back with the jab, but he found only clean air where nostrils should have been.

The final round had the pair a touch more frantic, trying to land the telling blow, particularly Haye who knew he desperately needed it.

But despite marginally more action, when the bell rang it closed what had been a dire offering of heavyweight fare.

Source: The Guardian UK