David Haye
David Haye | |
|---|---|
| File:David Haye.jpg | |
| Born | David Haye 13 October 1980 |
| Nationality |  British |
| Other names | The Hayemaker |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight |
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Reach | 204 cm (80 in) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 26 |
| Wins | 25 |
| Wins by KO | 23 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  England
| ||
| Men's boxing | ||
| World Amateur Championships | ||
 |
Belfast 2001 | Heavyweight |
David Deron "The Hayemaker" Haye (born 13 October 1980 in Bermondsey, London) is a British professional boxer, and current WBA World Heavyweight Champion.[1]
Before joining the heavyweight division, Haye was the unified ("undisputed") cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring magazine cruiserweight titles after notable victories over Jean-Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli. Haye's only professional loss to date was against Carl Thompson in 2004.
Haye won the WBA Heavyweight title with a majority decision over Nikolai Valuev, before defending the title against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison. Since then, there has been much speculation and anticipation concerning a possible bout with IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the near future.
Amateur
Haye started his ambition and passion for boxing at old-school boxing gym Fitzoy Lodge Boxing Club, where he quickly impressed and confidently won his first amateur bouts.
In 1999, Haye participated at the world amateur championships in Houston, Texas, USA at light-heavyweight but was defeated by American Michael Simms early in the contest.
At the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland he fought in the heavyweight 201 lb division where he beat world class Sebastian Köber to reach the final where he gave Cuban superstar Odlanier Solís a standing eight before getting stopped by TKO (round 3) and taking the silver medal.
Professional career
Cruiserweight
Based in Bermondsey, London, England, Haye turned professional in December 2001, knocking out veteran Tony Booth in two rounds.
In 2003 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 Denmark's Lolenga Mock where Haye had to come off the floor to win, and a 1st round KO of Tony Dowling.
Haye's fights were regularly seen on the BBC and his popularity began to grow in 2004, when he dispatched the 39-year-old ex-World champion "King" Arthur Williams in three rounds. A match with 40-year-old ex-WBO champion Carl Thompson for the IBO Cruiserweight Championship proved to further push Haye up the rankings. Early on Haye hit Thompson with numerous stiff jabs mixed with brutal body punches that badly hurt Thompson. The punches made Thompson slow down dramatically, and Haye began to attack Thompson relentlessly in the ensuing rounds. Haye continued to attack Thompson's body and head while avoiding most of the punches Thompson threw. In the fifth round, Thompson started to throw punches as he just tried to defend himself. With 7 seconds left in the round, Thompson landed two jabs followed by a straight right that knocked Haye out, defending his IBO Cruiserweight Championship.
Haye defeated his first challenger after the defeat, Estonian Valery Semishkur, by TKO in round 1. Haye's next would be against Garry Delaney. Delaney was out-classed by Haye throughout the fight, that ended in a third round TKO victory for Haye.
Following two more title defenses against Glen Kelly and Vincenzo Rossitto, Haye faced Alexander Gurov for the EBU Cruiserweight Championship. Haye overwhelmed Gurov, defeating him by knockout 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 continued to defend his EBU title against all comers, including Ismail Abdoul and future world champions Victor Emilio Ramirez, and Giacobbe Fragomeni.
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 Championships of the world. Mormeck's IBA Cruiserweight Championship was also on the line. Haye defeated Mormeck with a TKO in the 7th round, despite Haye being knocked down by Mormeck in the 4th. 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 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[2]
Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli met in an all-British world Cruiserweight title fight in the early hours of 9 March 2008. Haye's WBA, WBC, and Ring belts were at stake, and Maccarinelli put up his WBO Cruiserweight Championship. 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.[3] They were right, as Haye defeated Maccarinelli in the 2nd round by 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."[2]
Heavyweight
Haye has described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight jigsaw. Haye then defeated heavyweight Monte "Two Gunz" Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November 2008, winning via TKO in the fifth round.[4]
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.[5] Haye pulled out of the fight with a back injury [6]
WBA Heavyweight champion
Haye then confirmed that he would meet the WBA champion Nikolay Valuev on 7 November, 2009 in the Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany with Haye's trainer Adam Booth claiming it was a fight that Valuev wanted, it was billed as David and Goliath.[7] 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."[8]
Haye beat Valuev in a reserved display of accuracy and efficiency, countering Valuev's misses, jabbing and circling his much larger opponent.[9] Haye came close to knocking down Valuev again in the final round with a hard left hand, which made Valuev stumble. Haye won with scores of 114-114 (ITA), 116-112 (USA) and 116-112 (ESP).[10] He is the first British boxer to win a world heavyweight title since Lennox Lewis, and only the fifth Briton 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.[citation needed]
On 3 April, 2010 Haye defeated John Ruiz in his second WBA title defence at the Manchester Evening News Arena by TKO in the ninth round after knocking him down four times during the fight excluding a point deduction for hitting Ruiz on the back of his head in round one. This was only the second time Ruiz has been stopped, after being knocked out in round one by David Tua fourteen years prior to facing David Haye. After the fight, Haye immediately called on both Klitschko brothers, after claiming their recent challengers Eddie Chambers and Chris Arreola were "a disgrace to boxing."
Harrison fight
It was confirmed on 7 September, 2010 that Haye would fight Audley Harrison on 13 November, 2010 at the M.E.N. Arena. The press conference for the bout became heated, leading to the two fighters swearing at each other on live television.[11]
On 13 November 2010, Haye defeated Harrison with one minute, seven seconds remaining of the third round by TKO. Southpaw Harrison landed one jab during the entire fight. He staggered to his feet after being knocked down, only for Haye to immediately pounce right back on him, hitting him with another flurry of punches. The referee intervened and ended the bout. After the fight Haye stated his plans to retire before he is 31 have not altered, saying "I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve - undisputed cruiserweight champion, unify the heavyweight division and then call it a day."[12]
Other information
Haye attended Bacon's College in Bermondsey, South East London. His training camp is based in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus and he has worn the "Northen Cyprus flag" on his shorts alongside the Flag of St. George and the Union Flag in the past.[13] David Haye was awarded with the citizenship of North Cyprus due to his contributions to the North Cyprus.[14] Haye is married to Natasha and has a son named Cassius. He supports London football team Millwall.[15] On Wednesday 20 October 2010, he was awarded an honourary doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University, at the graduation ceremony in the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Professional boxing record
References
- ^ DAVID HAYE v NIKOLAI VALUEV: Haye beats Valuev on points to become world champion Daily Mail, 8 November 2009
- ^ a b Livefight.com | Haye - I will never work with Sports Network again
- ^ Haye Faces Toughest Test Yet, BBC Sport
- ^ "Round-by-Round: Haye vs. Barrett". FightHype.
- ^ Potapov, Alexey (7 April 2009). "Haye must switch Klitschkos for title challenge". fightnews.com. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Wladimir Klitschko replaces injured David Haye with Ruslan Chagaev for June 20 fight - ESPN. Sports.espn.go.com (2009-06-06). Retrieved on 2010-10-11.
- ^ "Haye to fight WBA champion Valuev". BBC Sport. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
- ^ Charles, Chris (23 September 2009). "Sport quotes of the week". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ Mitchell, Kevin (8 November 2009). "David Haye beat Nikolai Valuev despite suffering a broken hand". The Guardian. London.
- ^ BoxingNews365 > Haye Takes WBA Heavy Title!
- ^ "WBA champion David Haye to fight Audley Harrison". BBC Sport. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- ^ "David Haye targets Klitschko brothers for next fight". BBC Sport. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- ^ Kimmage, Paul (25 October 2009). "David Haye: my mum says I'm not allowed to have a tattoo". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ David Haye is now North Cyprus citizen as well Haye awarded North Cyprus citizenship on 21 Sptember, 2010
- ^ Coles, Bill (7 November 2009). "David V Goliath". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ David Haye - Boxer. Boxrec.com (2007-11-24). Retrieved on 2010-10-11.