Tweet
By Chris Williams: I really hate when fighters use an end route to get a heavyweight title shot. This is what I think David Haye has done by going after World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev to fight on November 7th rather than the arguably much tougher Klitschko brothers. Haye has said that he’s moved up from the cruiserweight division to clean up the heavyweight division and save the division from boring heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers.
Yet Haye appears to be cherry picking by going the 36-year-old Valuev to fight. Few, if any boxing fans, feel that Valuev is one of the better heavyweight champions in the division. Indeed, Valuev is seen as little more than a paper champion, someone who has been steered carefully during his boxing career and kept away for the most part against tougher fighters like the Klitschko brothers. Haye, 29, has been little better since moving up to the heavyweight division last year, facing virtually unknown Tomasz Bonin and Monte Barrett.
Haye could have fought the Klitschko brothers but he backed out of fights against both of them. Instead, we have Haye fighting another weak heavyweight. Valuev may be a champion in terms of holding a title, but I’d doubt that you could find any boxing fans or experts who feel that Valuev is any kind of real champion. As such, we have a title challenger in Haye who feel doesn’t deserve to be given a shot at against Valuev.
How Haye could be given a shot at a title over other more worth challengers like Kevin Johnson and John Ruiz is beyond me. While we’re at it, I don’t even know what Haye did to be ranked at number #4 in the World Boxing Association or number #3 in the WBO.
Certainly wins over Bonin and the 38-year-old Barrett, Haye’s only two fights at the heavyweight level, wouldn’t be enough for him to get ranked as high as he is. This kind of ranking reminds me of how Manny Pacquiao was suddenly positioned by the WBO as the number #1 challenger for welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s title just when it seemed that Cotto wasn’t going to put his WBO title on the line for his fight with Pacquiao because it was going to be held at a catch weight of 145.
Besides Haye’s undeserving credentials coming into his November 7th fight, Valuev has got to be one of the worst heavyweight champions in a long time. I know Ruiz has taken some heat for his time as a champion, but at least Ruiz knew how to fight and was capable of grinding out victories by utilizing what talent he had. Valuev hasn’t faced anyone while holding down his title except for a handful of fighters that I consider to be mediocre.
The one good fighter Valuev fought, Ruslan Chagaev, beat Valuev by a 12 round decision and took his title away from him in 2007. I see Valuev as maybe the 15th best heavyweight in the division right now, possibly even worse than that. I don’t think he should be a champion and it’s ridiculous that Haye is going after him for a title and even more ridiculous that Haye is even being given a chance at a title in the first place given his lack of quality opposition at the heavyweight level. Haye should have at least had to beat a top five heavyweight like Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter, Eddie Chambers or Chris Arreola before he was given a chance at a title.
Yet Haye appears to be cherry picking by going the 36-year-old Valuev to fight. Few, if any boxing fans, feel that Valuev is one of the better heavyweight champions in the division. Indeed, Valuev is seen as little more than a paper champion, someone who has been steered carefully during his boxing career and kept away for the most part against tougher fighters like the Klitschko brothers. Haye, 29, has been little better since moving up to the heavyweight division last year, facing virtually unknown Tomasz Bonin and Monte Barrett.
Haye could have fought the Klitschko brothers but he backed out of fights against both of them. Instead, we have Haye fighting another weak heavyweight. Valuev may be a champion in terms of holding a title, but I’d doubt that you could find any boxing fans or experts who feel that Valuev is any kind of real champion. As such, we have a title challenger in Haye who feel doesn’t deserve to be given a shot at against Valuev.
How Haye could be given a shot at a title over other more worth challengers like Kevin Johnson and John Ruiz is beyond me. While we’re at it, I don’t even know what Haye did to be ranked at number #4 in the World Boxing Association or number #3 in the WBO.
Certainly wins over Bonin and the 38-year-old Barrett, Haye’s only two fights at the heavyweight level, wouldn’t be enough for him to get ranked as high as he is. This kind of ranking reminds me of how Manny Pacquiao was suddenly positioned by the WBO as the number #1 challenger for welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s title just when it seemed that Cotto wasn’t going to put his WBO title on the line for his fight with Pacquiao because it was going to be held at a catch weight of 145.
Besides Haye’s undeserving credentials coming into his November 7th fight, Valuev has got to be one of the worst heavyweight champions in a long time. I know Ruiz has taken some heat for his time as a champion, but at least Ruiz knew how to fight and was capable of grinding out victories by utilizing what talent he had. Valuev hasn’t faced anyone while holding down his title except for a handful of fighters that I consider to be mediocre.
The one good fighter Valuev fought, Ruslan Chagaev, beat Valuev by a 12 round decision and took his title away from him in 2007. I see Valuev as maybe the 15th best heavyweight in the division right now, possibly even worse than that. I don’t think he should be a champion and it’s ridiculous that Haye is going after him for a title and even more ridiculous that Haye is even being given a chance at a title in the first place given his lack of quality opposition at the heavyweight level. Haye should have at least had to beat a top five heavyweight like Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter, Eddie Chambers or Chris Arreola before he was given a chance at a title.
Comment