Klitschko-Haye: Fight Fans Hungry For Overdue Fight

They say good things come to those who wait. The heavyweight division has waited long enough.

Two years and 12 days after they were originally due to fight, WBA champion David Haye and IBF/WBO holder Wladimir Klitschko will finally square off next weekend in the biggest heavyweight title fight for nearly a decade.

While the emaciated heavyweight division is a shadow of its former self, the dearth of quality has served to enrich this clash as two talented, powerful and athletic thoroughbreds break free of the lumbering pack of chubby losers laughably labelled 'contenders' to sort it out between themselves.

Not, however, without first making us wait.

After unifying the cruiserweight titles three years ago, brash Londoner Haye vowed to move up and 'save' the heavyweight division.

He told the Klitschko brothers Wladimir and Vitali to "flip a coin" over which one faced him first and, after months of trash talking and tough negotiating, a date was set to meet Wladimir in June 2009.

Yet just weeks before the bout, Haye's paymasters and British television backers, Setanta, went into administration, before a back injury to the challenger put paid to the contest altogether.

Talks were held to resurrect the scrap - be it against Wladimir or Vitali - only for Haye to abandon them altogether and take a shot at WBA holder Nikolay Valuev instead.

Haye won the belt that November night in Nuremberg and though he always guaranteed he would secure a defining night against one of the brothers before retiring this year, it looked destined never to happen.

Indeed, only when they are face to face in the Imtech Arena on July 2 will we be absolutely certain the fight will go ahead.

And when it does, it promises to get even the most jaded boxing cynics tingling with excitement.

No wonder this showdown gets the public's juices flowing compared to the Haye v Audley Harrison farce or his bullying of human punchbag John Ruiz last year. Little surprise people hankered for Haye v Klitschko following the latter's succession of one-sided defences against pudgy wannabes.

In the heavyweight division of old it would have been a good enough fight, but now it represents an enthralling and rare opportunity to watch two evenly-matched, quality and heavy-handed fighters go at it.

Since the turn of the century only the likes of Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko and John Ruiz v Roy Jones Jr have merited back page headlines. So while 30-year-old Haye's boasts about saving the heavyweight division are tiring, they are also justified.

His defeat of Valuev to claim the WBA belt in 2009 was just the ticket, pitting an exciting, marketable 6ft 3in challenger against a 7ft 2in giant of a champion in what was effectively a freak show.

Haye double-bluffed his way to victory that night in Germany, eschewing his pre-fight vow to scrap with his huge Russian opponent and instead boxing his way to success.

His belated assault on Valuev, though, had the man mountain wobbling about on silly legs and offered a telling gauge of the Englishman's revered power.

Tapes of Haye being floored by the likes of Lolenga Mock, Carl Thompson, Jean-Marc Mormeck and Monte Barrett will give 35-year-old Klitschko a confidence boost.

However, seeing the Englishman get up and fight back on all but one of those occasions will leave him wondering why he himself lacks such fire in the belly.

In his own three losses, Klitschko was beaten emphatically. Against Ross Puritty - like Haye against Thompson - he punched himself out before being exhausted and exposed.

But in defeat against Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, solid but unspectacular shots separated him from his senses and there was no way back.

Crucially, that vulnerability has been either eradicated or concealed for the last six years. When it last reared its head, against the powerful Samuel Peter in 2005, Klitschko rose from the canvas three times and won easily on points.

The bigger, more experienced Klitschko (55-3, 49KOs), with his revered jab and undoubted power will rightly start as favourite.

The smaller Haye (25-1, 23KOs), meanwhile, matches his nemesis in punch power while boasting the speed of a cruiserweight.

The fact both men are liable to getting floored is what makes this fight so compelling. The fact Haye gets up is what could give him the edge.