David
Haye lifted the WBA heavyweight title at the weekend
with a majority decision win over 7ft 2 Russian
giant Nikolai Valuev in Germany. With superior
footwork, Haye kept moving away from the Russian's
close-range punches and denied the 213-centimetre
Valuev the chance to hang on and wear him down with
his sheer size. Haye made a bright start, looking
for weaknesses in Valuev's defence and landed
several shots to the upper body and one to the face
while the Russian giant pursued around the
middle of the ring. There was a flurry of punches
towards the end of the second round and Valuev
stepped up at the start of the third, but it was
Haye who caught the Russian with a quick left,
right. With Valuev throwing countless punches, but
landing few, Haye caught the eye of the judges with
another combination in the fifth and more tellingly
in the final round, wobbling the Russian with a big
right hook to the chin. The judges scored it 114-114
even, 116-112 and 116-112 in Haye's favour.
Heavyweight News had it 116-113 for Haye.
David
Haye lifted the WBA heavyweight title at the weekend
with a majority decision win over 7ft 2 Russian
giant Nikolai Valuev in Germany. With superior
footwork, Haye kept moving away from the Russian's
close-range punches and denied the 213-centimetre
Valuev the chance to hang on and wear him down with
his sheer size. Haye made a bright start, looking
for weaknesses in Valuev's defence and landed
several shots to the upper body and one to the face
while the Russian giant pursued around the
middle of the ring. There was a flurry of punches
towards the end of the second round and Valuev
stepped up at the start of the third, but it was
Haye who caught the Russian with a quick left,
right. With Valuev throwing countless punches, but
landing few, Haye caught the eye of the judges with
another combination in the fifth and more tellingly
in the final round, wobbling the Russian with a big
right hook to the chin. The judges scored it 114-114
even, 116-112 and 116-112 in Haye's favour.
Heavyweight News had it 116-113 for Haye.
