David Haye

David Haye
File:David Haye.jpg
Born	David Haye (1980-10-13) 13 October 1980 Bermondsey, London, England
Nationality	English
Other names	The Hayemaker
Statistics
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Reach	198 cm (78 in)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	24
Wins	23
Wins by KO	21
Losses	1

David Haye

Medal record
Representing England
Men's boxing
World Amateur Championships
	Belfast 2001	Heavyweight

David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is an English professional boxer, and current WBA World Heavyweight Champion.

Haye is a former cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring magazine cruiserweight titles. Haye decided to vacate these titles in order to pursue his ambitions in the heavyweight division. His training camp is based in Kyrenia, in Northern Cyprus and he has worn the Northen Cyprus flag on his shorts alongside the Cross of St. George and the Union Jack in the past.

Professional career

Cruiserweight

Based in Bermondsey, London, England, Haye turned professional in December 2002, knocking out veteran Tony Booth in two rounds.

In 2002 he won 8 fights, 2 of which were in the USA, and won all by knockouts, the most notable being a 4th round KO of The Democratic Republic of Congo's Lolenga Mock where Haye had to come off the floor to win, and a 1st round KO of Tony Dowling where he picked up the English title.

Haye's fights were regularly seen on the BBC and his popularity began to grow in 2002, when he dispatched the 39-year-old ex-World champion "King" Arthur Williams in three rounds. However a match with 40-year-old ex-WBO champion Carl Thompson for the lightly regarded IBO belt proved disastrous. Early on Haye hit Thompson with everything in his arsenal, but late in the 5th round Thompson landed a series of punches to Haye's head. After further blows his corner threw in the towel, resulting in a TKO victory for Thompson.

Haye bounced back in December 2005, defeating Alexander Gurov for the EBU European title in just 45 seconds.

In January 2006, Haye signed a three year contract with former Lennox Lewis promoter Frank Maloney in order to further his world title ambitions. He retained his European title with defences against Lasse Johansen (TKO8), Ismail Abdoul (W12), and Giacobbe Fragomeni (TKO9).

Haye's cameo at heavyweight resulted in an impressive 1st round KO win over Polish fighter Tomasz Bonin, who at the time was ranked No.11 by the WBC and only had one loss to his name.

Cruiserweight World titles

He challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck on 10 November 2007 for the WBA and WBC Cruiserweight titles. Haye defeated Mormeck with a TKO in the 7th round. Haye was knocked down in the 4th but later dropped Mormeck in 7th round with a hard uppercut. Mormeck beat the count, but the referee stopped the bout as Mormeck was deemed to be unfit to continue. The victory confirmed Haye's arrival as a genuine world class fighter because Mormeck was ranked number one by The Ring magazine.

This was expected to be Haye's last fight in the cruiserweight division, win or lose. Haye himself has admitted that he 'struggles to make weight' and feels that he can only box at '70 or 80 per cent' of his potential as a cruiserweight.

"We thank Frank for sacrificing Maccarinelli, but we’d feel immense guilt if we took any more free money from Sports Network. I have a hard enough time sleeping at night as it is"

— David Haye on the prospect of working with Sports Network again

David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli met in an all-British world Cruiserweight title fight in the early hours of 9 March 2008. British trade paper Boxing News produced a pullout special on the match. Widely billed as the biggest all British bout since Chris Eubank met Nigel Benn, few pundits could decide who would walk away the victor. As both fighters are massive punchers with excellent KO records a short fight was predicted. Haye won the match in the 2nd round with a stunning TKO.

Commenting on the fight and of the prospect of working with Frank Warren, Maccarinelli's promoter again, Haye said "We thank Frank for sacrificing Maccarinelli, but we’d feel immense guilt if we took any more free money from Sports Network. I have a hard enough time sleeping at night as it is."

Haye immediately announced the victory as his last fight at cruiserweight. He moved up to heavyweight and declared live on Setanta Sports, that he will retire on the year of his 31st birthday declaring that he will have 3 years of heavyweight domination. On 12 May 2008, Haye vacated the WBC cruiserweight title.

Campaign at heavyweight

Haye has described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight jigsaw. Haye has repeatedly stated his intention to compete in the heavyweight division and emulate the success of Evander Holyfield.

Haye defeated heavyweight journeyman Monte Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November 2008, winning via TKO in the fifth Round, after knocking Barrett down in the third round.

WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko confirmed he would defend his title in a fight with Haye to take place on 20 June 2009, at Stamford Bridge in London. Instead, his younger brother, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko agreed to fight Haye the same date in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. However on 3 June 2009, Haye pulled out of the fight citing a back injury. There was a suggestion that this fight might be rescheduled to later that summer, however Klitschko faced and beat Ruslan Chagaev on the original date that he was supposed to fight Haye for the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight title.

Haye then confirmed that he would meet the WBA champion Nikolay Valuev on 7 November in the Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany which Sky billed as David and Goliath. Apparently showing no fear of his 7 foot opponent, Haye said: ""He is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I have watched Lord of the Rings and films with strange looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking."

Haye beat Valuev in an uneventful but reserved display of accuracy and efficiency, countering Valuev's misses and he jabbed forward and circled his much larger opponent. Haye came close to knocking down Valuev in the final round with a hard left hand, which made Valuev stumble. A close majority decision was announced after twelve rounds, with scores of 116-112 (ITA), 116-112 (USA) and 114-114 (ESP). He is the first British boxer to win a heavyweight title since Lennox Lewis, and only the fifth Brit in history to win the title after Lewis, Bob Fitzsimmons, former WBC champion Frank Bruno, Herbie Hide (WBO) and Henry Akinwande (WBO). Haye is the first and currently only boxer in the history of the sport to be seven or more stone lighter than an opponent in a World title fight and still come out victorious.

Professional boxing record

23 Wins (21 Knockouts), 1 Defeat, 0 Draws
Result	Opponent	Date	Promotor	Location	Notes
—	John Ruiz	3 April 2010	Golden Boy Promotions in association with Hayemaker Promotions	M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England	Mandatory defence of WBA Heavyweight title
Win	Nikolai Valuev	7 November 2009	Don King Promotions in association with Hayemaker Promotions	Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany	Won WBA Heavyweight title
Win	Monte Barrett	15 November 2008	Hayemaker Promotions	The O2 arena, London, England
Win	Enzo Maccarinelli	8 March 2008	Sports Network	The O2 arena, London, England	Defended WBC, WBA & Ring titles Won WBO Title
Win	Jean-Marc Mormeck	10 November 2007	Don King Promotions	Stade Marcel Cerdan, Paris, France	Won WBC, WBA & Ring titles
Win	Tomasz Bonin	27 April 2007	FTM Sports	Wembley Arena, Wembley, England
Win	Giacobbe Fragomeni	17 November 2006	FTM Sports	York Hall, Bethnal Green, England	Defended European (EBU) title, Won WBC eliminator title
Win	Ismail Abdoul	21 July 2006	FTM Sports	Leisure Centre, Altrincham, England	Defended European (EBU) Title
Win	Lasse Johansen	24 March 2006	FTM Sports	York Hall, Bethnal Green, England	Defended European (EBU) title
Win	Alexander Gurov	16 December 2005	Fight Academy	Leisure Centre, Bracknell, England	Won European (EBU) title
Win	Vincenzo Rossitto	14 October 2005	Fight Academy	Leisure Centre, Huddersfield, England
Win	Glen Kelly	4 March 2005	Fight Academy	The Magna Centre, Rotherham, England
Win	Garry Delaney	21 January 2005	Fight Academy	Fountain Leisure Centre, Brentford, England
Win	Valery Semishkur	10 December 2004	Fight Academy	Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield, England
Lost	Carl Thompson	10 September 2004	Fight Academy	Wembley Arena, Wembley, England	IBO title shot, First Professional Defeat
Win	Arthur Williams	12 May 2004	Fight Academy	Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading, England
Win	Hastings Rasani	20 March 2004	A-Force/Harry Holland	Wembley Arena, Wembley, England
Win	Tony Dowling	14 November 2003		York Hall, Bethnal Green, England	Won English title
Win	Lolenga Mock	26 September 2003	Lions Promotions	Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading, England
Win	Greg Scott-Briggs	1 August 2003	Lion/SEM	York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win	Vance Winn	15 July 2003		Playboy Mansion, Beverly Hills, United States
Win	Phil Day	18 March 2003		Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading, England
Win	Roger Bowden	4 March 2003		Seville Beach Hotel, Miami, United States
Win	Saber Zairi	24 January 2003	Dennis Hobson	Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, England
Win	Tony Booth	8 December 2002		York Hall, Bethnal Green, England	Haye's professional debut

External links

• Boxing record for David Haye from BoxRec (registration required)
• The Official David Haye Site
• David Haye's MySpace
• David Haye News and Forum
• David Haye vs Monte Barrett
• South London Press article - 'Danny Watts a big help to David Haye'