Frank Warren Shreds Haye, Jabs Amir Khan Over Sky

By Frank Warren

DAVID HAYE'S lackluster show in defending his WBA title against Wladimir Klitschko turned him from media darling to major letdown.

The Hayemaker came out to Larry Holmes' theme tune 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now'.

He left the building to Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Toe Hell!

As soon as Haye entered the Imtech Arena in Hamburg wearing the new England shirt, it was on the cards the fight would end as it did.

Throughout his pre-event trash talk, Haye said Klitschko had better come to fight.

Unfortunately, Klitschko did just that and Haye didn't.

And, once again, the curse of the Three Lions caused embarrassment to the legions of travelling fans.

To me, Haye just did not fight like a champion who wanted to keep his belt. Even if he did have a toe injury, he should have gone for broke for the first three rounds and taken the fight to Klitschko, letting his shots go.

But he did not do that and so the fight pattern developed.

I did not like the way Haye was falling down on his knees at every opportunity, trying to get Klitschko disqualified or have points taken away.

The German crowd had not seen tactics like that since Jurgen Klinsmann! Haye spent so much time on his knees, I wondered if he was actually hurt or about to propose to Dr Steelhammer.

Joking aside, the Londoner's punch statistics said it all. Haye landed only 72 of the 290 punches he threw - two for each minute of the fight.

I said in my column last week that if he fought that way there would be only one winner - and so it proved.

His performance was as negative as it was against Nikolay Valuev and in the first 2½ rounds against Audley Harrison.

Any thoughts of a lasting legacy were extinguished when the decision was announced. His boot was promptly removed to reveal that swollen toe, given as the reason for such a poor display and lack of tactics.

I believe the only reason Haye did not get stopped was because he did not come to fight. To me, his game-plan was to survive the 12 rounds.

He just was not equipped for the job. Even without a swollen toe, he would never have won. In hindsight, he must feel very foolish, albeit £10million richer.

Haye has maintained he would retire on Oc-toe-ber 13, when he turns 31. But he should bring this forward. His heavyweight career ended last Saturday and there is nowhere left for him to go.

Amir's Odd View

AMIR KHAN complaining about Sky's pay-per-view booking system crashing on Saturday night for the Klitschko-Haye fight was a bit rich.

He tweeted: "Sky customer services told viewers to go to the nearest pub. What about those who don't drink, Muslims and under-age kids?"

Yet Khan asked his fans to travel to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, famous for its drinking and gambling, when he fought Marcos Maidana.