Showing posts with label Haye v Bellew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haye v Bellew. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 March 2017
At the recent Haye-Bellew press conference in Liverpool, which was open to the public, something remarkable took place. We saw Haye emerge from it as the villain while Tony Bellew found himself slotted in to the role of the good guy - the wholesome family man who unlike Haye is in boxing for all the right reasons. Now just think about that for a second. Tony 'Bomber' Bellew, a fighter who's spent his entire professional career unleashing tirades of invective at his opponents in the lead up to fights, whose every second or third word is usually an expletive, a man infamous for his bullying and intimidatory antics, suddenly this guy is being depicted as a poster boy for family values and proper etiquette.
David Haye's tirade at the presser came after he'd endured dog's abuse from a crowd that was there baying for his blood. In parenthesis, was there really any need for this particular press conference less than a week before the fight? And, if so, what were Sky and Matchroom thinking opening it up to the public? Surely this was just asking for trouble and the kind of controversy that the sport doesn't need?
Haye's reference to the crowd as "retards" earned him the kind of opprobrium usually reserved for rapists or serial killers. Yet not a peep have we heard in protest at Tony Bellew's repeated use of misogynistic language - i.e. "The Bitch from Bermondsey." In fact during Haye's speech at the podium in Liverpool, Bellew interrupted him with "You got that right bitch!"
Surely if Haye is to be hung out to dry for the crime of offensive language and bad taste, so should his opponent.
But, listen, this is boxing. These guys are ready mentally and physically and emotionally to go to war. Add to the mix the genuine hatred that they have for each other, and what do people expect?
Aside from that, the public workout both fighters had with just three days to go dispelled any rumours that Haye's been having problems with his previously injured right shoulder, or that he was suffering from an achilles problem and is on the verge of pulling out. Yet again the Haye camp has proved adept at mind games. Whether it's the footage of Haye supposedly training on a yacht in South Beach, Miami, or sitting in a Jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glasses, or his highly publicised visit to his doctor in Munich, they' ve succeeded in giving the impression that Haye's preparations have been less than rigorous and injury-free.
The exact opposite looks to be the case. The physical nick Haye is in, revealed during his brief public workout when he removed his T-shirt, tells its own story. He isn't carrying an ounce of extraenous weight, either fat or muscle tissue, and the snap that he's renowned for clearly hasn't deserted him either. On the contrary, Haye's never looked sharper or more focused than he does for this contest, putting his shots together with speed and fluidity. His trainer Shane McGuigan, a guy who looks like he belongs in a Harry Potter movie poster instead of a boxing gym, revealed that Haye has sparred 60 rounds with Bryant Jennings for the fight, which means he's had excellent work and ideal preparation.
Tony Bellew, meanwhile, appears a solid unit going in. He claims he's prepared for a "dogfight", while asserting that Haye no longer has the minerals for what he intends to bring. If he and Dave Coldwell, his trainer and friend, are to be believed the gameplan is to take the fight into the later rounds and drown Haye in the kind of gut-testing slugfest he isn't built or ready for.
The smart money says Bellew will be asleep long before that happens. Judging by what we've seen this week, it is hard to disagree.
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Haye v Bellew - the countdown
While Haye has made the luxurious environs of South Beach, Miami a feature of his training camp, tirelessly posting pics and videos of himself cavorting around a luxury yacht, where he claims he's spent much of his time training, or on the beach meditating and relaxing between sessions, or hanging out with various celebrity friends, Bellew has emphasised his working class down to earth roots, his love of family and Everton FC, while training in the cold and rain of Sheffield in the accustomed manner, suffering for his craft as he batters and bludgeons his body and mind into shape for, this, the biggest test of his career.
It has been a study in contrast that has added even more anticipation to a fight that really didn't need any, given the river of bad blood that exists between both men.
Of the two, Haye's preparations have left fans and pundits guessing. From the pictures and videos posted on social media, the impression given is that of someone who's spent the winter enjoying an extended trip to a luxury health farm, living it up at the beach and on a luxury yacht, where we've seen him sitting in a jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glass. The images offend the conventional and purist belief in professional boxing as an exercise in self denial, wherein success in the ring is measured by the amount of pain and hardship and suffering a fighter is able to endure. Fighters preparing for the ring, especially a fight of his magnitude, are meant to avoid luxury and comfort as a vampire avoids daylight, knowing it can only weaken the resolve, dedication, and single minded ferocity that are non-negotiable requirements of their physical and psychological makeup.
But has Haye, with the beachboy image that he's cultivated leading up to this fight, only succeeded in pulling the wool over people's eyes, engaging in the art of mind games with all his posing and cavorting in Miami? The answer is undeniably yes. Make no mistake, the 36 year old 'Bitch from Bermondsey' will have trained like the proverbial beast for this fight, using the warm weather to his advantage for the purposes of recovery and keeping his core body temperature at the optimum level when it comes to conditioning. Pics of his chiselled physique tell their own story, though Haye knows as much as anyone that what goes on inside the squared circle has nothing to do with rippling muscles and everything to do with skill, speed, power, movement, and conditioning.
On paper, in every one of those categories, Haye is superior. He's faster, hits harder, moves better, and has more variety to his game. Not that Tony Bellew is a mug. Far from it. The cruiserweight world champion is a fighter's fighter, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and has made a habit of proving the naysayers and doubters wrong. He is as tough and as durable as they come, willing to go to places most are not in order to win. But his style could not be better made for David Haye. He stands tall, has a habit of letting his hands drop, and when the leather starts flying he often lapses into the habit of coming forward in front of his jab rather than behind it.
That said, Bellew is right in claiming that he will be Haye's toughest test in many years, something which he and Dave Coldwell, his friend and trainer, believe will be a crucial factor. Both do not believe that Haye has enough in the tank to go beyond four rounds and maintain the pace and intensity that Bellew intends to bring. They are also right in citing the fact that by the time Haye dispatched Derek Chisora in the 5th round of their clash back in 2012, he was tiring. But Haye will be coming in considerably lighter for this fight, and is clearly as motivated as he's ever been. His oft repeated assertion that Bellew will be carried out on a stretcher, as distasteful and unbecoming such rhetoric may be, is no empty boast. Haye is coming into this fight with the intention of doing damage.
What people seem to underestimate when it comes to David Haye, perhaps understandably given his love of the limelight and celebrity lifestyle, is how tough he is. Aggressive opponents such as Chisora and Bellew seem to bring out a mean side in him that contradicts the cultivated and urbane image he's gone out of his way to present over the years. In fact he appears to revel in these types of grudge matches, and despite the trash talk that comes his way when they come up, he's never phased or intimidated.
Tony Bellew's key to winning is his ability to take Haye's best shots and to keep coming forward, setting a relentless pace that his opponent isn't comfortable with. Keeping him on the back foot and finding the opportunity to fire that ferocious left hook he carries will be on his mind from the opening bell. Haye, meanwhile, will be looking to employ lateral movement to nullify Bellew's pressure, looking for angles and gaps, of which he and McGuigan are confident will be plentiful.
Haye's power, how Bellew copes with it, will be the most important single factor in determining the outcome to proceedings on March 4. If Haye starts firing and Bellew doesn't go anywhere, it could be the longest night of David Haye's career in many a year. With Bellew also carrying some serious juice in his hands, this has all the hallmarks of a ferocious contest.
When it ends let's hope the only stretcher involved is the one needed to carry home the pile of money each fighter is set to walk away with - money that even if this contest comes close to living up to the hype will be more than deserved.
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Haye v Bellew - Beauty and the Beast
The surprising thing about this contest is that it arrived out of nowhere. Bellew had just climbed off the canvas at Goodison Park after being dropped in the first round of his vacant WBC cruiserweight title fight to destroy Ghana's Ilunga Makabu in the third, nailing him with his trademark left hook in front of 30,000 raucous fans in the summer. Though Bellew has never been a fighter anyone would ever confuse with Bambi, the rant he delivered upon taking the mic after the fight was so raw it could only have come from the soles of his feet, during which he called out the 'Bitch from Bermondsey', excoriating him for "conning the public" over the course of two comeback fights against terrible opposition.
Bellew, who recently tasted the limelight as Ricky 'Pretty Boy' Conlan in Sly Stallone's well received Rocky spinoff movie, Creed, is not easy to like. He comes over as boorish with a bully-boy mentality at times. Moreover, his smack-talk about Haye's "sponge haircut" carries with it a racial connotation that he needs to drop, else the build up may well spill over into the kind of nastiness that boxing doesn't need. That said, you can't argue with his achievements in the ring, testament to his dedication and the fine work that he's put in with his trainer Dave Coldwell. His most recent demolition of B J Flores proved that his victory over Makabu was no fluke. Though possessing a body that wouldn't look out of place at McDonalds, Bellew carries real power in his hands, in particular a left hook that is a true thing of beauty.
As for David Haye, what can you say about a guy who when at his best is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet? Though justifiably attracting criticism in recent times for being overtly mercenary in his approach to the game, taking fights against less than credible opposition and taking the boxing public for a ride in the process, he is no hype-job and can really fight. Since teaming up with Shane McGuigan, joing a stable that includes his old Adam Booth stablemate George Groves, along with Carl Frampton and up and coming star Josh Taylor, Haye appears to have rediscovered his taste for the game. A big factor in that is of course his recovery from the bad shoulder injury he sustained during camp while getting ready to face Tyson Fury back in 2013. It seemed at the time he was looking at retirement, yet a year later he's back getting ready to face Tony Bellew in a highly anticipated encounter.
The smart money has to be on Haye, given his experience of operating at heavyweight plus the fact he is the technically superior fighter. Yet, saying that, the Liverpudlian and Evertonian has made a career out of proving people wrong. Clearly he will be relishing the opportunity to do so again.
For the purists out there this fight is being decried as a mismatch, pitting a crusierweight against a heavyweight. But Haye is no natural heavyweight and will no doubt come in lighter than he normally does. He could do with boiling off some of that muscle mass he carries anyway, and in terms of bone-structure, height and overall dimension he and Bellew are not that far apart.
For Bellew this fight is a win-win, as no matter what happens he remains the WBC cruiserweight champion. He and Coldwell are banking on the fact that Haye has not been seriously tested since his fight against Dereck Chisora in 2012. They maintain that they see flaws they can exploit, which in conjunction with the momentum Bellew is currently riding on the back of two impressive performances gives them every reason to feel confident.
Regardless, my money is on David Haye. He's faster, more explosive, with experience of having been in with seasoned heavyweights. Though getting on in years, he hasn't taken huge punishment in the ring, and the lack of decent opposition he's faced since returning to the ring, this will not, I contend, be as much of a factor as some maintain. He is undoubtedly up for this battle, which will tell in the quality of the sparring and sparring partners he will use to get himself ready.
I don't see one this going past four rounds.
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