Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye
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| Date | 2 July 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Imtech Arena, Hamburg, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO/The Ring Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Klitschko defeats Haye by unanimous decision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye was a heavyweight unification fight for the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles. The fight took place in Imtech Arena, Hamburg, Germany on 2 July 2011.[1][2][3] Klitschko won with a unanimous points victory.[4]
Background
In 2008 after becoming the unified Cruserweight champion of the world,[5] David Haye moved up to heavyweight.[6] Klitschko welcomed the challenge of Haye.[7] Talks started immediately between Wladimir and Haye but came to nothing.[8] Haye reiterated a challenge to Klitschko to fight him in 2009.[9] In his second fight, he wanted to fight JD Chapman who he claimed was a similar style to the Klitschko's.[10] Haye also added that the heavyweight division was scared of him.[11] In July 2008 Wladimir Klitschko said that Haye was a possible opponent for him to fight next.[12] Haye started to call out the Klitschkos after he knocked out Monte Barret in the 5th round in 2008.[13] In late 2008 a contract was signed between Haye and Vitali to fight in the summer.[14] However Klitschko pulled out and chose to fight mandatory, Carlos Gomez.[15] Haye then turned his sights to Wladimir.[16] In 2009 after protracted talks,[17] Wladimir agreed to fight Haye on the 20th June in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.[18] In the build up to that fight Klitschko labeled Haye an 'embarrassment' after Haye appeared wearing a T-shirt with the Klitschko's severed heads.[19] He also vowed to knock Haye out in the 12th round.[20] Haye pulled out of the fight claiming a back injury, and hoped to postpone the fight until July 11.[21] This did not happen and Haye was replaced by Ruslan Chagaev.[22] Since then both Vitali and Wladimir have wanted to fight Haye. With Vitali wanting to have a fight with Haye in 2010 which never happened.[23] While Haye won the WBA title after defeating Nikolay Valuev.[24]
Build up
On 16 April 2009, David Haye wore a T-shirt depicting him holding the heads of the Klitschko brothers while standing atop their decapitated bodies. At the same time, he declared a war on both the Klitschko brothers, hoping to first defeat Wladimir, then Vitali.[25] Two press conferences were held in announcement of the fight. The first one took place in Hamburg, the second in London. There was also an HBO Face Off held in New York.[26] At both press conferences David Haye refused to shake Wladimir's hand. Wladimir said it was a sign of lack of respect from David Haye's side. David Haye said that he did not want to shake Wladimir's hand, because "he doesn't want to do what Wladimir tells him to do." He said that Wladimir is a control freak, that has to know and control what his opponents do. David Haye promised that he would win by knock out over Wladimir Klitschko. Haye also said that the trash talk was over and that it was down to business, which was also one of the reasons why he didn’t bring his infamous t-shirt, with him holding the decapitated heads of the Klitschko brothers. Wladimir Klitschko did actually ask about the T-shirt and wanted to see it. Haye again referred to Wladimir as a "control freak."[27][28] Haye said that he intended to shake Wladimir's gloves when they are in the ring together, but only because it was the rules. At an interview on Sky, Haye also refused to come into the studio with Wladimir because he said he'd had enough of him, he'd had seen too much of him - first in New York then Hamburg and now in London.[29] At the HBO Face Off, Haye said that you could feel the tension and "almost cut it with a knife". He also thought that Wladimir would punch him during the interview. Yet again Haye refused to shake Wladimir's hand.[30]
A pre-fight news conference was held on June 27 in Hamburg. No new things were said. David Haye got up and said that Wladimir was like a robot, that would mal-function on Saturday (fight night). He said he was happy the fight was happening now, because he is just a much better fighter now. He also said that he would show a totally new gameplan and he would not fight like he has done in his other fights. Haye proclaimed that you could play his new iphone game David Haye's knock-outs, where you could see what is going to happen on July 2. [31] David Haye's trainer Adam Booth got up to the microphone and only said: "Enjoy", and gave the word to Wladimir's trainer Emanuel Steward. Steward said it was a big fight and that he was very happy. He said that he would rate it as the 2nd biggest, only behind Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson.[32] Klitschko said that he did not like Haye's attitude and that he would give him a lesson. He respect him as a fighter but not as a person. He promised to knock Haye out and that it would be good for Haye as a person.[33] Vitali Klitschko wanted Haye to promise to be at the post press conference in front of everybody. Haye promised and told that Vitali should promise the same and not go with Wladimir to the ambulance after Haye had knocked him out.[34] There was a little scuffle and some puches between Team Klitschko and Team Hayemaker at the staredown, where Wladimir's manager Bernard Bönte wanted to end the staredown early this time, (last time, it lasted almost 3 minutes).[35] [36]
On June 29, a public training session was held at a Mercedes Benz showroom in Hamburg, Germany. The two fighters showed off some skills and punches, while Adam Booth made a short parody on Wladimir.[37] [38]
The Hayemaker camp protested and were against the choice of Gino Rodriguez as referee for the fight. They were complaining about it because Gino Rodriguez had refereed some of Wladimir's other fights (including his loss to Corrie Sanders). The WBA Sanctioning Bodies then voted for the referee, resulting in favour of Rodriguez.[39]
The weigh in for the fight took place on July 1 in Hamburg. Wladimir Klitschko weighed in at 243 lbs (110 kg). David Haye weighed in at 213 lbs (96 kg) [40] The weigh in took place at Karstadt Sporthaus, Lange Mühren 14, 20095 - Hamburg.[41]
