David Haye
David Haye | |
|---|---|
| File:David Haye.jpg | |
| Born | David Haye 13 October 1980 |
| Nationality | English |
| Other names | The Hayemaker |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Reach | 198 cm (78 in) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 27 |
| Wins | 25 |
| Wins by KO | 23 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Website | www.david-haye.co.uk |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  England
| ||
| Men's boxing | ||
| World Amateur Championships | ||
 |
Belfast 2001 | Heavyweight |
David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980 in Lambeth, London) is an English professional boxer, and a former WBA world heavyweight champion.
Before joining the heavyweight division, Haye was the unified and lineal cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring magazine cruiserweight titles after notable victories over Jean-Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli. To date, Haye has lost to two fighters: Carl Thompson in 2004 and Wladimir Klitschko in 2011.
Haye won the WBA heavyweight title with a majority decision over Nikolai Valuev in November 2009 and successfully defended it against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison in 2010, before losing the title to Wladimir Klitschko on 2 July 2011.
Amateur
Haye started his ambition and passion for boxing at old-school boxing gym Fitzroy 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 Odlanier Solís a standing eight before getting stopped by technical knockout (TKO) in round three, and taking the silver medal.
Professional career
Cruiserweight
Based in Bermondsey, London, England, Haye turned professional in December 2002, aged 22, knocking out Tony Booth in two rounds.[1]
In 2003 he won seven fights, two of which include the only fights Haye has fought in the USA. He won all by knockout, the most notable being a fourth round KO of Denmark's Lolenga Mock, in which Haye had to come off the floor to win, and a first 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. Later that year, he fought 40-year-old ex-WBO champion Carl Thompson for the IBO cruiserweight championship. 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 tried to defend himself. With seven seconds left in the round, Thompson landed two jabs followed by a straight right that knocked Haye out.
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, which ended in a third-round TKO victory for Haye.
Following two more fights 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 to further his world title ambitions. He successfully defended his EBU title against Ismail Abdoul and future world champions, Victor Emilio Ramirez and Giacobbe Fragomeni.
Haye's cameo at heavyweight in April 2007 resulted in an impressive first-round KO win over Polish fighter Tomasz Bonin,[2] who at the time was ranked No. 11 by the WBC and had only one loss to his name.
Cruiserweight world titles
He challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck on 10 November 2007 for the WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles. Mormeck's The Ring'' championship was also on the line. Haye defeated Mormeck with a TKO in the seventh round, despite Haye being knocked down by Mormeck in the fourth. The victory confirmed Haye's arrival as a genuine world class fighter because Mormeck was ranked number one by The Ring magazine.
The Mormeck fight was expected to be Haye's last fight in the cruiserweight division. 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[3]
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 title. 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.[4] They were right, as Haye defeated Maccarinelli in the second round by TKO. Commenting on the fight and of the prospect of working again with Frank Warren, Maccarinelli's promoter, 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."[3]
Heavyweight
Haye described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight jigsaw. Haye then defeated heavyweight Monte Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November 2008, winning via TKO in the fifth round.[5]
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. Haye pulled out of the fight claiming 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. Haye's trainer Adam Booth claimed it was a fight that Valuev wanted; it was billed as David and Goliath.[7] Haye said about Valuev: "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 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 stone or more 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 first 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."
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.[12]
Haye's plans to unify the heavyweight division took a major setback in January 2011 when it was revealed that Tomas Adamek would fight one of the Klitschko brothers in September 2011,[13] before his planned retirement in October of that year. However, in April 2011, it was announced that Haye and Wladimir Klitschko had agreed to meet at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg on 2 July 2011.[14]
Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye
Wladimir Klitschko versus David Haye was a heavyweight unification fight for the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles, the fight taking place at the Imtech Arena, Hamburg, Germany on 2 July 2011.[15][16][17] Klitschko defeated Haye via a unanimous decision to capture the WBA belt and become the unified WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight champion.[18][19] After the fight Haye revealed that he had a broken toe, and that it had impeded his ability to fight; he was widely criticised for making the announcement.[20]
Retirement plans
Haye has had a long standing plan to retire early from the sport. After the Harrison fight Haye said his plans to retire before he is 31 had 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] In December 2010, during the negotiations to fight Wladimir Klitschko, Haye said if the fight did not happen, "I'll just have to accept that becoming the WBA champion was enough and move on with my life. That'll be 20 years of getting punched in the face, which is a long enough time. I set my goals and achieved them so unifying the titles is the cherry on the cake but if it doesn't happen it wasn't meant to be and I've just got to get on with my life".[21] After his lost to Klitschko, Haye was non-committal on the retirement issue, and said he would make a decision in the next few weeks.[22]
Other information
Haye attended Bacon's College in Rotherhithe, 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.[23] David Haye was awarded with the citizenship of North Cyprus due to his contributions to the North Cyprus.[24] Haye is married to Natasha and has a son named Cassius. He supports London football team Millwall.[25] On 20 October 2010, he was awarded an honourary doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University, at the graduation ceremony in the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Haye's successful defences of his title against Ruiz and Harrison saw Haye be selected for the final 10 shortlist for the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.[26]
Professional boxing record
References
- ^ Mahdi, Amar. "How rich is WBA boxing heavyweight champion David Haye?". thisismoney.co.uk. 2 July 2011. Accessed 6 July 2011.
- ^ "Haye powers to win as heavyweight". BBC Sport. 27 April 2007. Accessed 6 July 2011.
- ^ a b Livefight.com | Haye – I will never work with Sports Network again[dead link]
- ^ Haye Faces Toughest Test Yet, BBC Sport
- ^ "Round-by-Round: Haye vs. Barrett". FightHype.
- ^ 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.
- ^ > Haye Takes WBA Heavy Title!. BoxingNews365. Retrieved on 2011-06-17.
- ^ "WBA champion David Haye to fight Audley Harrison". BBC Sport. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- ^ a b Dirs, Ben (14 November 2010). "David Haye targets Klitschko brothers for next fight". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- ^ "Haye hopes dented by Adamek deal". BBC News. 26 January 2011.
- ^ "David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko set for 2 July fight". BBC. 20 April 2011.
- ^ BoxRec Boxing Records. Boxrec.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-17.
- ^ Boxing – Klitschko-Haye in Hamburg. Fightnews.com (2011-04-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-17.
- ^ Boxen | Klitschko | Haye. RTL.de. Retrieved on 2011-06-17.
- ^ Klitschko defeats Haye to become unified champion
- ^ "David Haye v Wladimir Klitschko - as it happened". Guardian. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
- ^ Davies, Gareth A. "David Haye's broken toe excuse dismissed by Wladimir Klitschko as Germans deny dirty tricks claims". The Daily Telegraph. 4 July 2011. Accessed 6 July 2011.
- ^ "David Haye offers Wladimir Klitschko 50-50 split". BBC Sport. 21 December 2010. Accessed 6 July 2011.
- ^ "David Haye to make decision on future 'in next few weeks'". BBC Sport. 3 July 2011. Accessed 6 July 2011.
- ^ 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 September 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) - ^ "Sports Personality of the Year 2010: David Haye". BBC Sport. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
- ^ David Haye – Boxer. Boxrec.com (2007-11-24). Retrieved on 2010-10-11.
External links
- Official website
- Boxing record for David Haye from BoxRec (registration required)
- David Haye's MySpace
- 1980 births
- Cruiserweights
- English boxers
- English people of Jamaican descent
- Black British sportspeople
- Heavyweights
- Living people
- People from Bermondsey
- People from London
- World Boxing Association Champions
- World Boxing Council Champions
- World Boxing Organization Champions
- World Cruiserweight Champions
- Boxers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games