Klitschko vs Haye: The biggest match in boxing outside Pacquiao-Mayweather

It’s been a long time since we witnessed a legitimate heavyweight superfight. The last one came way back in 2003 when Lennox Lewis of the United Kingdom defended his WBC heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine. From that point on, there hasn’t been any big fights in the heavyweight division which was once boxing’s most celebrated. This Sunday, more than eight years after Lewis-Klitschko, the boxing world will witness another heavyweight superfight. It will be between Vitali’s younger brother Wladimir Klitschko (55-3-0, 49 KOs) against David Haye (25-1-0, 23 KOs), who also comes from the United Kingdom. This match has been brewing for months now. Haye, the brash challenger who originally fought at the cruiserweight division, irked both Klitschkos by going out in public in a shirt with an illustration of Haye holding the decapitated heads of the Ukrainians. This fight should have happened last year but it all fell apart as Haye claimed he suffered an injury in training. Now, it’s finally time to settle things in the ring. The younger Klitschko currently holds the WBO and IBF titles while Haye holds the WBA version. A few people don’t realize it but this is actually the biggest fight in boxing outside of Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather. The lackluster fights in the heavyweight division in the past few years are to blame. Almost all fights involving the Klitschkos look the same. They’ll be up against overmatched and often overweight opponents who have no shot at beating them. As a result, the boxing fans stopped watching heavyweight boxing and turned their attention to more action-packed fights in the lighter weight divisions Klitschko-Haye changes all that. These two are both world-class fighters who have one-punch knockout power. They have four defeats among them and all of these have been by knockout so both fighters have a legitimate shot at hurting each other, which makes this fight even more exciting. “Wladimir is a much better boxer than Vitali," Freddie Roach told me in Pacquiao’s training camp, “but the problem is, mentally, he’s not as tough as Vitali." For Haye to win, he needs to hurt Klitschko early in the fight. He must be aggressive from the opening bell and destroy Klitschko’s confidence. If Klitschko starts getting comfortable, he is hard to stop. He owns one of the best jabs in boxing and a straight right than can end the fight anytime. Once Klitschko gets into his groove, it will be very difficult for Haye to fight back because the Ukrainian is taller and longer than him. The beauty of heavyweight boxing is that it could all end with a single blow. And when two extremely talented heavyweights battle in the ring, it can indeed be a beauty to behold. No one will ever forget the battles between Larry Holmes and Ken Norton, between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and hopefully, when the dust settles this Sunday we will all have another legendary fight to add to our lists. -- OMG, GMA News