Steward: "Wladimir Klitschko's Next Big Fight, David Haye"

[edgarg]

he'll be stronger and faster wont be dehydrated

Before you write in, it's a good idea to check the figures and THEN make a balanced judgement. Firstly, when a fighter dehyrates, it's only a couiple of days before the weigh-in. Andf afterwards he has enough time to rehydrate. If he's had difficulty, it doesn't come in the early rounds but mainly in the last third of a gruelling figft.

Of course, if he re-hydrates too quickly and too much, he's liable to suffer from hypo-naetremia, which is a messup of the body's electrolytes, which I KNOW kills several people every year, particularly long distance cyclists, who sometimes to to much "glugging' too soon, and to quickly.

I believe that Diego Corrales suffered from this in his fight with Mayweather. All the signs were there, as well as the training situation leading up to the fight. This was why he was moving as if wading through oil, with very slow reflexes. I remember that many times he would begin to throw a punch, and then check it, because Mayweather had moved out of range. Also, he went down 5 times, in the strangest way, as if in sections, from basically "lovetaps".

Anyway, to get back to Haye and the figures. Haye's only had 25 or so fights. In the first 15, except for his loss by KO in rd 5, only 2 of his fights reached the 4th rd. So if he was having dehyration troubles it wouldn't have time to kick in. as for the last few fights, which went a bit longer, they were against pretty light "****ers" with very average to poor KO records, and posed no threat to him. They certainly weren't tough fights. And some of them also only lasted a rd or two.

Sooo.......??

[edgarg]

There are one or two positive things going for Rahman if it's thought about in a non biased/historical way: first of all there's common opponents: Rahman has beaten two people who have defeated Klitschko - Corrie Sanders and Ross Purrity. Now, this should probably be taken with a pinch of salt, especially the Purrity part, but facts are facts.

The other positive is the more obvious underdog role he's now in - very similar to the first Lewis fight. Admittedly, it's highly unlikely that Klitschko will take the fight as lightly as Lewis did the first time around. But the very fact Rahman is coming into this with nothing to lose is still potentially dangerous, as many fighters [and teams for that matter] perform much better when they're the underdog.

The last couple of positives are Rahman's power and [potential] jab. The very fact Klitschko is fighting someone with a big punch is cause for concern in itself. If he's caught with anything big, he may well panic like he has done before. And lastly, there's Rahman's jab, which when at's it's best, may well pose problems for Klitschko [perhaps like Mercer vs Lewis?], although that seems very unlikely as Rahman is nowhere near as good as that version of Mercer at this point, and probably never has been. It really depends on the authority Rahman puts on it, and whether or not he turns up to fight his best fight, or turns up with the bad form he usually has.

Klitschko is the huge favourite, and deservedly so, but I think this fight is a bit more dangerous than some people think.

You're quite right about taking the Purrity fight with a grain of salt, and, in my opinion, adding the Sanders fight too, to the saline intake, makes the dish uneatable.

What I mean is that Sanders, as well as delivering that couple of lovely left hands, also accompanied them with at least 3-4 hefty belts with his head, almost at the same fraction of a second as the punches. Far quicker and much better even than Hopkins. I think it wasn't deliberate but his natural follow-through, with Klitschko being pretty close to him.

As well as being obvious from the video, it was also obvious tha Sanders didn't hit Klitschko wioth a single right hand, don't think he even threw any, yet, just as K was either going from that first good whack, or lowering his head into Sanders' shoulder for protection, Sanders' head again got him, this time over his left eye, which began to bleed. All to be seen on the video, although you may have to slow it down.

[CaRnAgEViOLaToR]

i hope haye knocks bitchko the **** out

[Banderivets]

I think Rahman is a more dangerous fight then Haye.

I cant wait for the Haye fight............Haye is so hyped up, its going to be hillarious when Wlad takes him out in 4rd...

The moment Haye steps into the ring everything he learned will go out the windows when he gets a taste of that jab.

[Davros?]

Im backing Haye to win, but Wlad will be hard to beat.

[The Hammer]

I can hardly wait for Wladimir vs. Haye.

We'll know more about Haye after Saturday - he may be a tough opponent for Wlad or he may be easy, really haven't seen him at heavyweight enough to know. He looked great against Bonin, but that wasn't really a top opponent. Barrett is decent, though.

[The Hammer]

This just means that Wlad can fight Haye in Late April/ EArly May and then fight Povetkin in Late August/ EArly Sept.

Perfect scenario for Wlad fans.

Yes, he has until Sep 13, 2009 to face Povetkin. He could fit a Haye fight in between.

[beez721]

he'll be stronger and faster wont be dehydrated

come on man. he's not going to hit nearly as hard as wlad at heavyweight. wlad is just so much bigger boned and like haye delievers with full leverage...good speed and precision. unlike wlad,,,haye's going to need more than 1 punch to take out the larger man

[Derranged_]

I rooting for Barrett to spoil David's title shot this weekend...

[KJB]

I can hardly wait for Wladimir vs. Haye.

We'll know more about Haye after Saturday - he may be a tough opponent for Wlad or he may be easy, really haven't seen him at heavyweight enough to know. He looked great against Bonin, but that wasn't really a top opponent. Barrett is decent, though.

I cant see Haye being a very difficult opponent for Wlad. Wlad hits way too hard, and boxes way to well for Haye to bother him with anything. Sure Haye hits hard as a CW, but we havent seen what he can do against a full sized heavy like Wlad, and we know Wlad can pretty much decapitate anybody with his power.
Wlad will knock him out, and the hype train will come to a crashing halt.