David "The Hayemaker" Haye is an English professional boxer from London and former WBA heavyweight
champion. He is also the former unified world cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC,
WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles, and the former European cruiserweight champion.
Amateur Haye started his ambition and passion for
boxing at old-school boxing gym Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club in Lambeth, South London, where
he quickly impressed and confidently won his first amateur bouts.
In 1999, 18-year-old Haye participated at the world amateur championships in Houston,
Texas, USA at light-heavyweight but was eliminated by experienced American Michael Simms early
in the contest. At the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships
in Belfast, Northern Ireland he fought in the heavyweight 201-lb. division where he
beat world class Sebastian Köber to reach the final where he gave Odlanier Solís a
standing eight count before being stopped by the Cuban in round three, and taking the
silver medal. Professional career
Cruiserweight Based in Bermondsey, London, England, Haye
turned professional in December 2002, aged 22, In his first fight he faced Hull based
Tony Booth,which he managed to win the fight after Tony Booth threw in the towel in the
latter rounds . In 2003 he won fights, two of which were the
only fights he has fought in the United States. He won all by knockouts, the most notable
being a fourth round KO of Denmark's Lolenga Mock, in which Haye had to come off the floor
to win. Haye's fights were regularly seen on the BBC
and his popularity began to grow in 2004, when he dispatched the 39-year-old ex-world
champion "King" Arthur Williams in three rounds. Later that year, in his eleventh pro fight,
he fought 40-year-old former WBO champion Carl Thompson in a 'youth vs experience' matchup.
Haye started fast and alarmingly caught Thompson with constant barrages of power punches, coming
close to forcing a stoppage at numerous points over the first few rounds.
Gradually, despite the early punishment he received, Thompson warmed up and worked his
way into the fight whilst Haye seemed to tire and slow down. Thompson began to pressure
Haye and knocked Haye down with a chopping right hand in round 5. With seven seconds
left in the round, Thompson landed two jabs followed by a flush right hand which cleanly
caught a fatigued Haye, and compelled Haye's corner to throw in the towel, Haye was leading
on all 3 score cards before the stoppage. Haye returned against Estonian Valery Semishkur,
winning by TKO in round 1, then defeated Garry Delaney by a third round TKO. Following two
more fights against Glen Kelly and Vincenzo Rossitto, Haye faced Alexander Gurov for the
EBU cruiserweight championship. Haye easily knocked out Gurov with a single right hand
in just 45 seconds. In January 2006, Haye signed a three-year
contract with former Lennox Lewis promoter Frank Maloney to further his world title ambitions.
He successfully defended his EBU title against Ismail Abdoul and future world champion Giacobbe
Fragomeni, with the latter fight being a WBC eliminator.
Haye's cameo at heavyweight in April 2007 resulted in an impressive first-round KO win
over Polish fighter Tomasz Bonin, who at the time was ranked No. 9 by the WBC and had only
one loss, against Audley Harrison. World cruiserweight champion
Haye challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck on 10 November 2007 for the WBA, WBC, & The Ring cruiserweight
titles. Haye defeated Mormeck by knockout in the seventh round, despite Haye needing
to rally after being knocked down by Mormeck in the fourth. The victory confirmed Haye's
arrival as a genuine world class fighter. The Mormeck fight was expected to be Haye's
last fight in the cruiserweight division. Haye himself admitted that he struggles to
make weight and feels that he can only box at "70 or 80 per cent" of his potential as
a cruiserweight. However Haye would be tempted into a unification cruiserweight bout for
the most lucrative fight of his career. Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli met in an all-British
world cruiserweight title fight in the early hours of 9 March 2008. Haye's WBA, WBC, & The
Ring titles were at stake, while Maccarinelli's WBO title was on the line. British trade paper
Boxing News produced a pullout special on the match, which was widely billed as the
biggest all-British bout since Chris Eubank met Nigel Benn. As both fighters are hard
punchers with excellent KO records, a short fight was predicted. These predictions proved
to be correct, as Haye knocked out Maccarinelli in the second round of the contest. Commenting
on the fight and of the prospect of working again with Frank Warren, Maccarinelli's promoter,
Haye said, "We thank Frank for sacrificing Maccarinelli, but we'd feel immense guilt
if we took any more free money from Sports Network. I have a hard enough time sleeping
at night as it is." Heavyweight
Haye described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight
jigsaw. Haye then defeated heavyweight Monte Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November
2008, winning via TKO in the fifth round. WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko
confirmed he would defend his title in a fight with Haye to take place on 20 June 2009, at
Stamford Bridge in London. Instead, his younger brother, WBO, IBO & IBF heavyweight champion
Wladimir Klitschko agreed to fight Haye the same date in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Haye
pulled out of the fight claiming a back injury. WBA heavyweight champion
Haye then confirmed that he would meet the WBA champion Nikolay Valuev on 7 November
2009 in the Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany. Haye's trainer Adam Booth claimed it was a
fight that Valuev wanted; it was billed as David and Goliath. Haye weighed in at 217 pounds,
almost 100 pounds less than his opponent. Haye said about Valuev: "He is the ugliest
thing I have ever seen. I have watched Lord of the Rings and films with strange-looking
people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking."
Haye beat Valuev in a reserved display of accuracy and efficiency, countering Valuev's
misses, jabbing and circling his much larger opponent. Haye came close to knocking out
Valuev in the final round with a hard left hand, which made Valuev stumble. Haye won
a majority decision with scores of 114–114, 116–112 and 116–112. Haye is the first
and currently only boxer in the history of the sport to be seven stone or more lighter
than an opponent in a World title fight and still come out victorious.
On 3 April 2010 Haye defeated John Ruiz in his first WBA title defence at the Manchester
Arena by TKO in the ninth round after knocking him down four times during the fight. This
was only the second time Ruiz has been stopped, after being knocked out in round one by David
Tua fourteen years prior to facing David Haye. After the fight, Haye immediately called on
both Klitschko brothers, after claiming their recent challengers Eddie Chambers and Chris
Arreola were "a disgrace to boxing." It was confirmed on 7 September 2010 that
Haye would fight Audley Harrison on 13 November 2010 at the Manchester Arena. The press conference
for the bout became heated, leading to the two fighters swearing at each other on live
television. On 13 November 2010, Haye defeated Harrison with one minute, seven seconds remaining
of the third round by TKO. Southpaw Harrison landed one jab during the entire fight. He
staggered to his feet after being knocked down, only for Haye to immediately pounce
right back on him, hitting him with another flurry of punches. The referee intervened
and ended the bout. Haye's plans to unify the heavyweight division
took a major setback in January 2011 when it was revealed that Tomas Adamek would fight
one of the Klitschko brothers in September 2011, before his planned retirement in October
of that year. However, in April 2011, it was announced that Haye and Wladimir Klitschko
had agreed to meet at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg on 2 July 2011.
Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye
Wladimir Klitschko versus David Haye was a heavyweight unification fight for the WBA,
IBF, WBO and The Ring heavyweight titles, the fight taking place at the Imtech Arena,
Hamburg, Germany on 2 July 2011 This was the only heavyweight unification fight since Wladimir
Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov fought back in 2008. It was then when Wladimir Klitschko
beat Ibragimov and added his WBO title to his IBF title. Klitschko defeated Haye by
a unanimous decision to become the unified WBA Super, IBF, WBO, and The Ring heavyweight
champion. Haye had a broken toe that allegedly inhibited him from pushing off his back foot
during the fight, and showed little or none of his usual explosiveness in the ring. The
official scores were: 118-108, 117-109 & 116-110, which were all in favour of Klitschko.
Retirement BBC chief Charlie Smith told The Sun on 11
October 2011 that David Haye had informed him that he would not be renewing his boxing
licence, thus retiring from the sport. Haye has had a long-standing plan to retire early.
After the Harrison fight Haye said his plans to retire before he is 31 had not altered:
"I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve – undisputed cruiserweight champion, unify
the heavyweight division and then call it a day." In December 2010, during the negotiations
to fight Wladimir Klitschko, Haye said if the fight did not happen, "I'll just have
to accept that becoming the WBA champion was enough and move on with my life. That'll be
20 years of getting punched in the face, which is a long enough time. I set my goals and
achieved them so unifying the titles is the cherry on the cake but if it doesn't happen
it wasn't meant to be and I've just got to get on with my life".
Vitali Klitschko vs David Haye negotiations Haye put retirement on hold and was in negotiations
for a possible bout with WBC heavyweight title holder Vitali Klitschko on 3 March 2012. However,
Klitschko went on to schedule a fight with Dereck Chisora on 18 February 2012, which
he won by decision. Following the fight there was a fracas between Chisora and Haye, who
had attended as a spectator, leading to speculation that Haye might come out of retirement to
fight Chisora. However, on 21 February, Haye confirmed that he would only come out of retirement
to fight Klitschko. On 8 May, Haye signed on to face Dereck Chisora on 14 July.
David Haye Vs Dereck Chisora
Press conference brawl After his loss to WBC heavyweight champion
Vitali Klitschko, Dereck Chisora got into a brawl with compatriot David Haye at the
post-fight press conference. Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente said "with the bad experience
we've had with British fighters we will now look for other countries". He then told Haye
from the dais "You had an offer, you didn't accept it, now you are out. You are out. You
cannot talk yourself back into the fight, you have no belts." Chisora then called out
Haye, but Haye dismissed Chisora as "a loser". Chisora challenged Haye to tell him that to
his face and approached Haye sparking a melee with Haye throwing the first punch with what
appeared to be a glass bottle in his hand, as the brawl progressed Haye was seen swinging
a camera tripod. After order was restored, a furious Chisora stated multiple times that
he would "shoot" David Haye and claimed Haye "glassed" him. Haye's manager Adam Booth emerged
from the fracas with a facial wound and Chisora suggested to Booth that Haye hit him with
a bottle by mistake while Booth insisted it was one of Chisora's entourage that had hit
him with a bottle . During an interview at the Chisora Vs Haye press conference Booth
was asked "how did you end up with a cut on your head?" to which he replied "David hit
me with a tripod" but also added "he bought me a new S-class Mercedes as an apology".
Fight negotiations On 8 May 2012, Haye and his promotion team
announced that he would fight against Dereck Chisora at Boleyn Ground, Upton Park, London
on 14 July 2012. The announcement caused controversy as neither held a British Boxing Licence,
and so had agreed a licence deal with the Luxembourg Boxing Association. Seen as a direct
attempt to undermine the British Boxing Board of Control, it meant that fights could take
place in Britain even if a boxer was facing disciplinary action.
The Fight Haye won the fight with a fifth round stoppage
in front of over 35,000 spectators. Knocked to the floor in the fifth round, receiving
a count of eight, Chisora recovered only to be floored again in the same round. Referee
Luis Pabon decided Chisora was unable to continue signalling the end of the contest.
David Haye vs Tyson Fury Haye was due to fight Manuel Charr at Manchester
Arena on 29 June 2013. However, the fight was called off because Haye had suffered an
injury. Haye later arranged a fight with Tyson Fury at the same venue on 28 September 2013.
However, a week before the fight, David Haye sustained a cut to the head which required
several stitches, so yet again the fight was postponed. It was originally rescheduled for
8 February 2014. However Haye dropped out of the fight on 17 November 2013 after shoulder
surgery, doctors advised Haye to retire from the sport of boxing however David Haye did
not officially announce his retirement but the fight with Fury was cancelled.
Personal life David was born to a white English mother and
black Jamaican father and grew up in Bermondsey, London for most of his childhood. He has an
older sister Louisa and a younger brother James. Haye attended Bacon's College in Rotherhithe,
South East London. Haye lives in Beckenham. He is married to
Natasha and has a son called Cassius, named after Cassius Clay. He supports London football
team Millwall. Haye is now a North Cyprus citizen as well
as a UK citizen; he was awarded North Cyprus citizenship on 21 September 2010. His training
camp is based in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus and he has sometimes worn the Northern Cyprus
flag on his shorts alongside the Flag of St. George and the Union Flag. In November 2012
Haye took part in the twelfth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in which
he finished third. In early 2014, Haye became vegan.
Honours He was awarded an honorary doctorate from
Anglia Ruskin University on 20 October 2010. He was selected for the final 10 shortlist
for the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for his performance in the matches
in which he had successfully defended his title from challengers Ruiz and Harrison.
Professional boxing record References
External links Official website
Professional boxing record for David Haye from BoxRec