Haye haters




 
It appears as if Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye are finally going to meet on Saturday night, although I still won't believe its happening until the referee is giving them instructions in the centre of the ring. There are 48 hours to go, plenty of time for something to go wrong

There are a flood of previews, predictions & opinions out there already so I apologise for adding to the clutter; while its nice to see boxing getting so much mainstream attention, the downside to a big fight like this are the number of "experts" who appear from nowhere to offer their views. Obviously everyone is entitled to express an opinion but it might hold a tad more weight if you'd actually seen a boxing match since Frank Bruno retired...

Having had a quick look at opinions out there, I must admit I was surprised how many peopele are anti Haye; while the anonymity of the internet & Twitter will always lead to a number of jealous trolls trying to be controversial from the safety of their bedrooms, there does appear to be a large number of regular people who have been turned off by his behaviour. The common complaints are that he is arrogant & needs to be taught a lesson, that his attempts to market the fight are distasteful (see above)

The excellent Sky promo show "Behind the Ropes" probably didn't help; Wladimir came out of it far better, he appeared charming, polite & intelligent, while his opponent often looked childish & petty. However I think a lot of the criticism is missing the point; Haye understands how boxing works & how to sell fights. In order for it to appeal to a mass audience these days it has to be sold off the characters involved in the fight. As wrestling promoters have known for over a hundred years, there has to be a bad guy, someone for the crowd to boo & to hate, and this is the role that Haye has taken on. It doesn't matter if there are 50,000 people at the arena screaming for his blood on Saturday or millions watching hoping to see him knocked out, the important fact is they are there & they are watching.

Hayes' behaviour, going back to his challenge to a bemused Klitschko in London 3 years ago (watch) & the infamous severed heads t-shirt, have sold the fight;  a meeting between Klitschko & a relatively unknown former cruiserweight would not have generated anywhere near this level of excitement & attention. Proof of that is shown by the fact the fight will be screened on HBO in the US, who have refused to show fights involving the Klitschko brothers for years

As to the point about Haye being arrogant - good. If he didn't have such supreme self belief what hope would he stand against a man who has knocked out 49 previous opponents? He could have just shuffled into the ring resembling a man on the way to the scaffold, as so many of the Ukrainians recent opponents have done & would have lost the fight before a punch was thrown. The opinion of others is irrelevant, what matters is how a boxer copes with his own doubts or insecurity & if to overcome this they need to put up a front of complete confidence then so be it

Whether all the belief in the world will actually be enough to beat Klitschko.... we'll see on Saturday (fingers crossed)