David vs Goliath : Haye vs Valuev

Haye is a natural talent with the speed middleweight and the punching power of a heavyweight. People say he doesn't have a chin because he got knocked out once. But actually he got caught once by a freak punch because he was being over confident. Ali got knocked out by Cooper early in his career. (He would have lost that fight had the ref not allowed Ali's corner to delay the start of the next round.) But you wouldn't question Ali's chin would you...
I quite like Valuev, he's sympathetic. But he's a taught boxer and he is champ just because of his size. I can't imagine Valuev will ever had fought classy boxer like Haye.
Normally Haye would win easily against such a limited boxer. However, I have big questions about Haye's fitness.
 
roodboy said:
I thought the David v Goliath scenario was more apt here because Haye is essentially a cruiserweight who stepped up a division.

But I agree that Haye's ability to generate press coverage has helped to hype the fight - as I said in the OP, i hardly follow boxing anymore but yet this fight has triggered my interest.
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starman said:
I think its more do with the height difference. Haye is a fairly big guy physically anyway so the transition upward is relativity easy, as a amateur he actually fought as a heavyweight. Holyfield is essentially a blown up light heavyweight.
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I am sure Holyfield was Cruiserweight Champion before he became a Heavyweight Champion.
 
Decotron said:
Has lurch actually knocked people out before, I got the impression hes not the most natural puncher
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Red Hand Devil said:
Yeah 34 knockouts man!
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He's not a particularly big puncher. I don't think he's ever knocked out anyone with a notably good chin. The majority of his KOs came earlier in his career against shite opponents. One of the intriguing things about this fight though is that Haye's chin has looked dodgy enough that a fighter probably doesn't need to have world class power to knock him out.

Leg-End said:
:lol: He's gonna be working away on the body all night long, Rocky style. I guess the one thing is Haye does not need to be as quick as he usually is, take his time and pick his punches because speed is not an asset against a guy of that size.
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That's the key for Haye imo. Soften up Valuev's body instead of going headhunting straight away.

starman said:
I think its more do with the height difference. Haye is a fairly big guy physically anyway so the transition upward is relativity easy, as a amateur he actually fought as a heavyweight. Holyfield is essentially a blown up light heavyweight.
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starman said:
He was, one of the best ever, but he started off as a Light Heavyweight.
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:lol:

Pacquaio started at junior flyweight. Do you think he's a blown up flyweight? Fighter's physiques mature as they get older. Evander was 6'2 (and presumably still is),an inch shorter than Haye I think, had an incredible chin and resilience, and was one rarely at a strength disadvantage even in an era of giant heavyweights. He was hardly out of depth physically at heavyweight. Haye will have to do very fecking well to transition to heavyweight more easily and effectively than Holyfield did.
 
Really looking forward to this fight btw. Valuev is an incredibly nice guy by all accounts and Haye seems like a bit of a prick, but I'm guiltily hoping Haye knocks him out as the heavyweight division desperately needs some excitement. It has the makings of an exciting fight, mainly because Haye has great power but a suspect chin, and because he's aggressive by nature and won't want to leave this in the hands of the jusges in Germany.

Throw in Fedor vs Brett Rodgers later on and Utd Chelsea on the Sunday and this is a fecking great weekend of sport for me.
 
Yeah a Haye KO would inject some life back into an extremely boring division. So despite him giving loads of abuse to someone who is a genuinely likable character, and pretty much coming across as a bit of a cnut in the process, I'll be rooting for him.

As for the body shots, Pat... I agree, I reckon Haye will focus his attack there for the first couple of rounds until Valuev starts to drop his guard. Unless of course he finds it easier than expected to land shots upstairs.

Still mad how much hype this fight seems to be getting. Loads of people are talking about it, it's getting coverage on the news, in all the papers, etc. Even Hatton-Pacquiao didn't seem to generate this much interest. Will be interesting to see what sort of PPV figures it fetches... I've got a feeling it'll be the highest-selling boxing event since Hatton-Mayweather.

Roll on Saturday. Would be nice to have another British heavyweight champion on the scene, and a victory would set up a potential unification bout with one of the Klitschko's (at last).
 
Pat_Mustard said:
Really looking forward to this fight btw. Valuev is an incredibly nice guy by all accounts and Haye seems like a bit of a prick, but I'm guiltily hoping Haye knocks him out as the heavyweight division desperately needs some excitement. It has the makings of an exciting fight, mainly because Haye has great power but a suspect chin, and because he's aggressive by nature and won't want to leave this in the hands of the jusges in Germany.

Throw in Fedor vs Brett Rodgers later on and Utd Chelsea on the Sunday and this is a fecking great weekend of sport for me.
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Great posting there Pat - some insightful stuff mate. Goodman yerself :cool:
 
Got high hopes that Hayes will beat Valuev.All that talk before the fight is just the usual hype that comes with a big boxing event like this .I'm sure Hayes really as respect for Valuev.
 
Pat_Mustard said:
Really looking forward to this fight btw. Valuev is an incredibly nice guy by all accounts and Haye seems like a bit of a prick, but I'm guiltily hoping Haye knocks him out as the heavyweight division desperately needs some excitement. It has the makings of an exciting fight, mainly because Haye has great power but a suspect chin, and because he's aggressive by nature and won't want to leave this in the hands of the jusges in Germany.

Throw in Fedor vs Brett Rodgers later on and Utd Chelsea on the Sunday and this is a fecking great weekend of sport for me.
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He really isnt a prick. Met him a couple of years ago when he was fighting at York Hall. I went to O2 to see him beat Enzo Maccarinelli. The fight finished about 3am and the transport was fecked and the roads gridlocked – mainly because the Blackwall tunnel was closed one way, then fans started walking down the other tunnel because they couldn’t get back North. Anyway, Haye walked back to Millwall, where he is from, with fans, buying them beers and having a singsong home.

The big talk is all about getting the opportunity to get a shot at a world title. Considering its only his third heavyweight fight, its worked. Now he is selling the fight.

If Haye fights with discipline and goes in with a good strategy (and sticks to it), he should win this one.

Valuev will be too slow to catch him with a big shot.

Only fear is that Haye tires towards the end of the fight.

I predict Haye will win on points.
 
EdWeatherall said:
Haye has weighed in at 16st 6lbs, Valuev at 22st 7lbs
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fecking hell Sky, I watched the weigh in live, the dumb feckers announced he was nearly a stone heavier than he actually was, spent a good 10 minutes talking about the implications of that, only to have to correct themselves when they finally twigged

He's actually 15st 8lbs
 
Ah thanks, I just saw it on the BBC news ticker, so they're hardly incompetent either
 
Anything interesting happen at the weigh-in, Haye start a fight to sell more subscriptions?
 
That's boxing for you. I think a win for Haye here would actually make the Klitschkos view him as a real threat instead of a mere thorn in their side, gonna make for compelling viewing whatever the outcome.
 
AlwynP said:
That's boxing for you. I think a win for Haye here would actually make the Klitschkos view him as a real threat instead of a mere thorn in their side, gonna make for compelling viewing whatever the outcome.
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you say that but thats like saying anyone that beats marquez could be a real threat for mayweather, which they wouldn't (yes i know pacman is the champ but mayweather will walk it when they fight)

funny on sky when they had the betting correspondent on who said since the weigh in valuevs odds have dropped dramatically, asthough no one knew how big he was!
 
mr.suave said:
Yeah a Haye KO would inject some life back into an extremely boring division. So despite him giving loads of abuse to someone who is a genuinely likable character, and pretty much coming across as a bit of a cnut in the process, I'll be rooting for him.

As for the body shots, Pat... I agree, I reckon Haye will focus his attack there for the first couple of rounds until Valuev starts to drop his guard. Unless of course he finds it easier than expected to land shots upstairs.

Still mad how much hype this fight seems to be getting. Loads of people are talking about it, it's getting coverage on the news, in all the papers, etc. Even Hatton-Pacquiao didn't seem to generate this much interest. Will be interesting to see what sort of PPV figures it fetches... I've got a feeling it'll be the highest-selling boxing event since Hatton-Mayweather.

Roll on Saturday. Would be nice to have another British heavyweight champion on the scene, and a victory would set up a potential unification bout with one of the Klitschko's (at last).
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Yep, its out of all proportion to how significant a fight it really is, but I guess it just goes to show that it'll probably always take the heavyweights to really drag boxing into the mainstream. Its mad really - there's been so many great fights these past few years that have went completely under the radar - but its a fact of life.

Red Hand Devil said:
Great posting there Pat - some insightful stuff mate. Goodman yerself :cool:
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Cheers lad! Its not often I'm capable of stringing a coherent thought together, but I try my best. :)

gaffs said:
He really isnt a prick. Met him a couple of years ago when he was fighting at York Hall. I went to O2 to see him beat Enzo Maccarinelli. The fight finished about 3am and the transport was fecked and the roads gridlocked – mainly because the Blackwall tunnel was closed one way, then fans started walking down the other tunnel because they couldn’t get back North. Anyway, Haye walked back to Millwall, where he is from, with fans, buying them beers and having a singsong home.

The big talk is all about getting the opportunity to get a shot at a world title. Considering its only his third heavyweight fight, its worked. Now he is selling the fight.

If Haye fights with discipline and goes in with a good strategy (and sticks to it), he should win this one.

Valuev will be too slow to catch him with a big shot.

Only fear is that Haye tires towards the end of the fight.

I predict Haye will win on points.
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I'm genuinely glad to hear that. It doesn't really bother me with football, but with boxing and UFC I hate finding myself wanting a wanker to win.
 
That Russian giant is the worst looking boxer since Foreman. The guy looks like some giant bloke taken off the street and taught how to box but never taken off the fast food nor run more than a mile in his life. Haye looks like he was chiseled out of granite.
 
Brad said:
What's the score with pubs showing it? Because I'm sure as hell not paying £15 or whatever it costs on box office
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Im not sure actually - not seen any pubs avertising it but Im sure a few will show it.

I dont even have Sky but I am planning on going round to a mate to watch it
 
Can't wait for this.

Valuev looks like a monster. But I wonder if he can keep up with the quickness of Haye's punches.
 
gaffs said:
If Haye fights with discipline and goes in with a good strategy (and sticks to it), he should win this one.

Valuev will be too slow to catch him with a big shot.

Only fear is that Haye tires towards the end of the fight.

I predict Haye will win on points.
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I hope his pre-fight talk is a smokescreen.
He needs to use the ring and make angles and get in and out otherwise he's in danger of getting ktfo.
He has been saying the exact opposite. He must know what he's doing, mustn't he?
 
gaffs said:
The big talk is all about getting the opportunity to get a shot at a world title. Considering its only his third heavyweight fight, its worked. Now he is selling the fight..
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I really don't like this about modern boxing, I don't remember Tyson or Holyfield (or even Lewis) coming out with as many personal insults as Haye has.

Boxing is a sport, not bloody WWF.
 
horselesspaul said:
I hope his pre-fight talk is a smokescreen.
He needs to use the ring and make angles and get in and out otherwise he's in danger of getting ktfo.
He has been saying the exact opposite. He must know what he's doing, mustn't he?
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He has to be aggressive as its fairly unlikely that he'll get the benefit of the doubt from the judges if its in any way a close fight and it goes the distance. He's got the hand and foot speed to do it intelligently though. His corner seem to be strong on strategy so I think he'll have a good game plan if he can just execute it. The video posted from Sky Sports News showed him working hard on body punches - this could be important to wear Valuev down, and discourage him from trying to pull the old 'jab and grab' clinch-athon tactic to control the fight and tire Haye out. If Valuev is getting battered to the body every time he tries to lean on Haye he'll think twice about clinching.

Member 5225 said:
Anyone booked it on PPV? How much is it? (Sky-UK)?
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£15 I think.

prateik said:
so when does it start
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The event starts at 8pm UK time. I'm not sure, but I've heard the main event is likely to start somewhere between 10 and 11.
 
duffer said:
I really don't like this about modern boxing, I don't remember Tyson or Holyfield (or even Lewis) coming out with as many personal insults as Haye has.

Boxing is a sport, not bloody WWF.
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didnt tyson say he wanted to eat lennox lewis's kids??
 
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