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Tuesday morning's edition of Today (the BBC's flagship news and current affairs radio programme), contained the following report:
When even the BBC, whom one expects to show some scepticism and objective journalism, jump on the Haye nuthugging bandwagon, I despair about British boxing journalism.
I have emailed Mike Costello as follows:
I'll post back if I get a reply ...
Newsreader: "An all-British world heavyweight title fight between champion David Haye and challenger Audley Harrison in November is a good deal closer this morning. But as usual, boxing politics is at the heart of the story. Mike Costello can explain.
Mike Costello: "Harrison's camp say terms have been agreed and it's now up to Haye to sign the contract. If it comes off it'll be the biggest heavyweight showdown in this country since Lennox Lewis beat Frank Bruno in Cardiff in 1993. The ongoing ill feeling between Haye and the Klitschko brothers, Wladamir and Vitali, has opened the door for 38 year old Harrison. Ten years after winning Olympic gold, he's lost four times in his 31 pro fights, but he resurrected his career last April by winning the European title with a stunning last round knock-out of another Britain, Michael Sprott.
Mike Costello: "Harrison's camp say terms have been agreed and it's now up to Haye to sign the contract. If it comes off it'll be the biggest heavyweight showdown in this country since Lennox Lewis beat Frank Bruno in Cardiff in 1993. The ongoing ill feeling between Haye and the Klitschko brothers, Wladamir and Vitali, has opened the door for 38 year old Harrison. Ten years after winning Olympic gold, he's lost four times in his 31 pro fights, but he resurrected his career last April by winning the European title with a stunning last round knock-out of another Britain, Michael Sprott.
When even the BBC, whom one expects to show some scepticism and objective journalism, jump on the Haye nuthugging bandwagon, I despair about British boxing journalism.
I have emailed Mike Costello as follows:
To: mike.costello@bbc.co.uk
One expects the BBC to be objective, and not to buy into media hype; so I was very disappointed to hear your report on Tuesday's Today programme.
The reason that Haye is not fighting a Klitschko next is NOT "boxing politics", as the newsreader stated, nor is it "the ongoing ill feeling between Haye and the Klitschko brothers", as you claimed. It is simply - and quite obviously to anyone who really follows boxing and is being objective - because Haye doesn't want to fight them yet.
Last April, Wladimir Klitschko told Haye in a youtube video to put up and make the fight happen, or to shut up. Klitschko then got special dispensation from the IBF to fight a unification with Haye rather than his mandatory, Povetkin. In the subsequent negotiations, Klitschko - to most people's astonishment, given Haye's rather patchy resumé at Heavyweight - offered Haye exactly the terms that Haye had said he wanted - a 50/50 purse split, and no rematch clauses. Haye turned the offer down, claiming (via his manager) that he needed more time to negotiate and that Klitschko should go ahead and fight Povetkin instead.
Now Haye is apparently trying to make a fight, not with a highly ranked opponent who could test him and help prepare him for a forthcoming fight with one of the Klitschkos, but with a man ranked 42 in the world by boxrec, and who is not ranked anywhere near the top 10 by any independent rankings organisation.
You mentioned that Harrison has already lost four times, but you didn't mention that all four losses were to journeymen, boxers generally ranked well outside the top 20 in world terms. Sprott himself is a journeyman, and although he got a big knock-out in that fight, you didn't mention that the journeyman Sprott had won every round prior to the knock-out. Harrison's opponents have to stay still and stick their chins out for him to get an knock-out against them; and no world class fighter will ever be so obliging.
Haye is clearly trying to make a bit of money against zero-risk opponents before fighting one of the Klitschkos, presumably because he thinks he's likely to lose. Because of this, and because of his extraordinary lazy fight schedule (averaging just two fights a year since moving up to Heavyweight), he's lost the support of all objective boxing fans.
For you to claim that it is boxing politics or bad feeling that is preventing Haye from fighting the Klitschkos, when all hard core boxing fans know it's simply that Haye is trying to cash out for as long as possible before risking defeat, is to mislead the public to a deplorable extent.
If you turn out to be right that it will be a huge fight, it will only because of misleading media hype from journalists like yourself. But to compare it with the Lewis-Bruno fight, as you did in your report, is quite ridiculous, and again was seriously misleading to the public. Bruno was not a great fighter, but he was a very good one, and was close to being world class. He had already fought for a world title by the time he faced Lewis; and all of his three losses had been to world class fighters. The Lewis-Bruno fight garnered world wide interest. By contrast, Harrison has never been and never will be considered to be even close to world class; his losses have all been to journeymen; and outside the UK, no one will have the slightest interest in this fight.
Finally, your report didn't display any of the journalistic scepticism I would expect from the BBC about Harrison's claims that the fight contract is done and dusted and is just awaiting Haye's signature. Haye denies this, so this story seems rather premature.
Dave Rado
One expects the BBC to be objective, and not to buy into media hype; so I was very disappointed to hear your report on Tuesday's Today programme.
The reason that Haye is not fighting a Klitschko next is NOT "boxing politics", as the newsreader stated, nor is it "the ongoing ill feeling between Haye and the Klitschko brothers", as you claimed. It is simply - and quite obviously to anyone who really follows boxing and is being objective - because Haye doesn't want to fight them yet.
Last April, Wladimir Klitschko told Haye in a youtube video to put up and make the fight happen, or to shut up. Klitschko then got special dispensation from the IBF to fight a unification with Haye rather than his mandatory, Povetkin. In the subsequent negotiations, Klitschko - to most people's astonishment, given Haye's rather patchy resumé at Heavyweight - offered Haye exactly the terms that Haye had said he wanted - a 50/50 purse split, and no rematch clauses. Haye turned the offer down, claiming (via his manager) that he needed more time to negotiate and that Klitschko should go ahead and fight Povetkin instead.
Now Haye is apparently trying to make a fight, not with a highly ranked opponent who could test him and help prepare him for a forthcoming fight with one of the Klitschkos, but with a man ranked 42 in the world by boxrec, and who is not ranked anywhere near the top 10 by any independent rankings organisation.
You mentioned that Harrison has already lost four times, but you didn't mention that all four losses were to journeymen, boxers generally ranked well outside the top 20 in world terms. Sprott himself is a journeyman, and although he got a big knock-out in that fight, you didn't mention that the journeyman Sprott had won every round prior to the knock-out. Harrison's opponents have to stay still and stick their chins out for him to get an knock-out against them; and no world class fighter will ever be so obliging.
Haye is clearly trying to make a bit of money against zero-risk opponents before fighting one of the Klitschkos, presumably because he thinks he's likely to lose. Because of this, and because of his extraordinary lazy fight schedule (averaging just two fights a year since moving up to Heavyweight), he's lost the support of all objective boxing fans.
For you to claim that it is boxing politics or bad feeling that is preventing Haye from fighting the Klitschkos, when all hard core boxing fans know it's simply that Haye is trying to cash out for as long as possible before risking defeat, is to mislead the public to a deplorable extent.
If you turn out to be right that it will be a huge fight, it will only because of misleading media hype from journalists like yourself. But to compare it with the Lewis-Bruno fight, as you did in your report, is quite ridiculous, and again was seriously misleading to the public. Bruno was not a great fighter, but he was a very good one, and was close to being world class. He had already fought for a world title by the time he faced Lewis; and all of his three losses had been to world class fighters. The Lewis-Bruno fight garnered world wide interest. By contrast, Harrison has never been and never will be considered to be even close to world class; his losses have all been to journeymen; and outside the UK, no one will have the slightest interest in this fight.
Finally, your report didn't display any of the journalistic scepticism I would expect from the BBC about Harrison's claims that the fight contract is done and dusted and is just awaiting Haye's signature. Haye denies this, so this story seems rather premature.
Dave Rado
I'll post back if I get a reply ...
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