Vitali Klitschko Offered, Will David Haye Accept The Fight?
By Terence Dooley
Adam Booth, and Bernd Boente, who advises the Klitschko brothers, recently took their negotiations public during Sky Sports' Ringside programme. Booth, who promotes and trains David Haye, is adamant that his boxer did his bit by settling a local rivalry with Audley Harrison via a third-round stoppage at the MEN Arena last Saturday night and that it is now up to Wladimir to put the final seal on a Klitschko-Haye showdown by “bashing up” London's Derek Chisora on December 11.
Boente, however, insists that Vitali is good to go after coming through his WBC title defence against Shannon Briggs via a lopsided points win last month.
“It’s not necessarily Wladimir next. It could be Vitali. Vitali is ready to go. With Vitali we can make a fight right away,” insisted Boente.
However, common consensus dictates that Haye should try to go through the younger brother first. Indeed, Wlad recently told Sky that he considers his older brother to be tougher, more natural fighter of the two and confirmed that he ranks himself just behind his sibling in terms of their standing in boxing.
Wlad, 55-3 (49), claims that he was turned into a boxer whereas Vitali, 41-2 (38), has the natural fighting instincts necessary to thrive in the sport, a temperament sadly missing from Audley Harrison, who talked a good fight going into last week's contest but, once again, could not pull the trigger come fight night. Vitali, who shot to prominence when losing to Lennox Lewis in 2003, is a fighter right down to the soles of his boots and is seen as the man to put Haye in his place.
Haye, though, is in a bind anyway, because he has to fight both of the brothers in order to unify the titles - so why not go for Vitali first? Wlad's defence has improved under trainer Manny Steward, plus he is in his physical prime at the momen. Whereas Vitali, despite a run of six wins since his 2008 comeback, marked up in a routine defence against Kevin Johnson last December and is looking a bit creaky of late.
Sure, the win over Briggs was remarkable in its brutality yet Vitali, who has a 88% stoppage ratio, could not close the show in the same manner that Lewis did when hammering Briggs to a fifth-round stoppage defeat back in 1998, when Shannon had a lot more to offer and was coming off a majority win over George Foreman.
Vitali, 6' 7½'', has a cast-iron chin and he towers over Haye, 6' 3'', yet 'The Hayemaker' can box to a plan, as shown in his WBA title win over Nikolay Valuev last November. There may now be enough chinks in Vitali's armour for Haye to use his speed and mobility en route to a big win.
Indeed, a win over Vitali is essential to Haye's aim of unification so why not try for 'Dr. Ironfist' first, especially given that Wlad believes his brother is better and tougher than him. Defeating the older brother will throw down the gauntlet and may see Wlad go into a fight with Haye under a massive psychological disadvantage.
A win over Vitali, unbeaten since the Lewis loss, would be a huge exclamation mark for any fighter capable of achieving the feat, it would also serve to spook Wlad and throw some doubts into the mind of the 34-year-old, who would then face the unenviable task of restoring family pride against his brother's conqueror.
Either way, Haye has a lot on his plate as he heads into his final year in the sport, the 30-year-old is adamant that he will retire before the close of 2011, he faces a tough task no matter who he takes on first. Going for Vitali would be a real statement of intent and the kind of bemusing sidestep that David, who has often flown in the face of conventional boxing wisdom, is capable of making, and profiting from.
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