HAMBURG, GERMANY — Tonight (July 2) Wladimir Klitschko achieved his dream of holding all four heavyweight belts with his brother Vitali by using size, range and superior boxing skill to dominate David Haye.
The electric atmosphere in Germany was heightened by last-minute gamesmanship from Haye, who delayed his entrance 10 minutes. In the ring, Wladimir made sure to stare down Haye throughout the ring introductions and national anthems. Although Germany is the Klitchsko’s adopted home base, a highly vocal contingent of British fans let their support for Haye be known through various chants and catcalls at Wladimir’s camp.
Wladimir easily took the early rounds by keeping Haye neutralized behind his long jab. This forced Haye to lunge with punches on offense and spend the majority of the first two rounds moving laterally to prevent Klitschko from setting up his powerful straight right.
Haye made some headway in the third by catching Wladimir with an overhand right. The shot bloodied his nose and caused an immediate clinch. Another hopeful sign for Hayemaker fans were the several jabs Haye landed in round four. While Klitschko was more active in this stanza, it was Haye who closed strong by landed three consecutive right hands.
Despite a cut and swelling below his left eye, Klitschko re-asserted his jab and straight rights to outbox Haye in rounds five and six. Wary of Klitschko’s 30 pound weight advantage, Haye sought to gain an edge by over-exaggerting Wladimir’s leaning tactics. Whenever Wladimir leaned on him with his body or arms, Haye would fall to the canvas. This strategy paid dividends in round seven when referee Genaro Rodriguez docked Klitschko a point. The questionable call didn’t shake Klitschko’s resolve; he promptly won the eighth and ninth rounds by again relying on his jab and sporadic hard rights.
Far behind on the cards, David Haye failed to take significant risks in the championship rounds. The 11th pushed Haye further behind when an attempted flop off a Klitschko push was ruled a knockdown.
Like his 12th round showing against Nickolay Valuev, David Haye was able to stun Klitschko early with an overhand right. That shot caused Klitschko to clinch tightly for 10-15 seconds. Although Haye was unable to land any significant follow-ups, the pressure he placed on Klitschko made the Ukranian very uncomfortable, and hinted that the fight may have been much more competitive if the strategy had been implemented earlier.
The scorecards reflected Wladimir Klitschko’s dominance, giving him a lop-sided unanimous decision with scores of 118-108, 117-109 and 116-110. While both men embraced afterward in a sign of respect, neither gave the other full credit for their efforts. Haye cited a broken pinky toe on his right foot as the reason he was not as explosive and fluid with his offense. He verified the injury by showing the mangled toe in the ring afterward and on Twitter.
“I couldn’t push off my right leg,” Haye said. “I broke my toe a few weeks before. I couldn’t explode off it… No way could I pull out after so many fans paid their hard-earned money. I believed I could still win. Klit fought me great, credit to him.”
“He was very cautious and difficult to hit like [Sultan] Ibragimov,” Wladimir Klitschko said. “I didn’t get challenged offensively. He fought like all of them [before]. He was very fast. I didn’t get the real and true challenge. He caught me a few times but I wasn’t hurt in any situations.”
The win puts all the heavyweight belts in the Klitschko family, a goal the brothers made to each other when their pro careers launched in the late 90s. Wladimir now holds the WBA, WBO and IBF straps, while Vitali has the WBC belt and will defend it in September against Tomasz Adamek.
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Haye talked big and Wladimir did his Terminator stares, but in the end each fighter fought the way they have in their recent bouts, conservatively and with minimal risks. The problem for Haye was that Wladimir could win easily that way. In fact, he has been since 2004. Haye had to fight beyond his normal style and be fearless to have any chance at victory. So while Wladimir’s performance was nothing memorable, the high criticism will be on Haye since he was the loud-mouth, cocky challenger who promised to liberate the heavyweight division.
What’s next for both men? The Klitschkos have achieved their dream and I see little reason for them to continue fighting after this year. What else is left? Haye can still make some noise. I’d still like to see him in there with Tomasz Adamek or even Chris Arreola. For now , the Klitschko Era continues on unabated.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 
Klitschko: fuck the rest , you are the best.