Read Loyal Homer and Sports Geek’s opinions.
In boxing’s heavyweight division, Wladimir Klitschko (53-3-0, 47KO) is the best. He’s ranked at the top by Ring Magazine, the IBF and the WBO.
Until recently, Klitschko was scheduled to fight David Haye (22-1-0, 21KO), a very exciting contender out of Great Britain who had no problems in letting the public know his lack of respect for both Wladimir and his brother, Vitali (37-2-0, 36KO) who is also a heavyweight title holder.
This fight could have rejuvenated the sport of boxing. Considered by most fans to be the premier weight class, the heavyweight division has lacked an exciting, fan pleasing champion since the retirement of Lennox Lewis in 2004. Since Lewis’ retirement, the Klitschko’s emerged as the division’s elite fighters, but neither excites crowds the way previous champions like Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, or Lewis were able to. Despite possessing devastating knockout power, the Klitschko’s have established their dominance more through technical superiority than brutality. Unfortunately, boxing fans crave the latter. As a result, the popularity of heavyweight boxing – and subsequently the sport in general – has suffered.
Another drawback in the heavyweight division is that the Klitschko brothers have categorically stated they will never fight each other. That decision leaves no chance of seeing the best fighters within the division step into the ring together until a new and legitimate contender can challenge their dominance. Many fight fans hoped Haye would be the man equal to the Klitschkos’ challenge.
Haye brings a level of excitement (and explosive brutality) to the heavyweight division that has re-energized boxing fans. After completely dominating the Cruiserweight division, the undisputed champion (holding the WBO, WBC, WBA AND Ring Magazine Championship Belts) vacated his titles to step up to heavyweight. Last November, he completely dismantled American Monte Barrett in his heavyweight debut, sending Barrett to the canvas a total of five times. The fight mercifully ended in a fifth round TKO for Haye. Following that fight, Haye got his opportunity when Wladimir Klitschko agreed to a fight.
How excited were the fans when this fight was announced? So excited that the 61,000 seat Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany sold out, making it the largest crowd for a fight in Germany since Max Schmeling fought back in 1939. It did not matter if Haye was capable of beating Klitschko, fans expected a very exciting bout.
As fate would have it, the fight was not meant to be. On June 3, just two weeks before the fight, Haye withdrew with a back injury sustained during training. Hoping to still fight Klitschko, Haye requested a three week postponement to allow his back to heal. Much to the chagrin of boxing fans, Klitschko declined to postpone the fight, signing Ruslan Chagaev as Haye’s replacement.
Klitschko’s stated reason for postponing the fight was because he had never fought in front of a crowd so large and he wanted to see that dream realized. Whatever the reason, it was clear to fans that the newly scheduled Klitschko-Chagaev fight was going to be a very boring exhibition, likely playing out as previous Klitschko fights had. With only two weeks to train, there was little hope that Chagaev would pull off the upset. Expectations were so low that HBO Boxing cancelled their broadcast of the fight.
Did Klitschko make the right decision to deny Haye’s request to reschedule the fight, or should he have postponed the fight date in order to keep his scheduled bout with Haye?
Yes, Klitschko got to fight in front of a capacity crowd, but he arguably lost his global draw for the fight. The fight with Chagaev once again disappointed the many fans who had hoped to see an instant classic, but instead watched a one-sided, technical exhibition of fundamental boxing superiority by Klitschko. Chagaev was overmatched from the first bell. Are the long-term risks of Klitschko’s refusal to fight Haye mitigated by his seemingly guaranteed victory over Chagaev, or would the risk of fighting an apparently legitimate contender have paid off for Klitschko’s future prospects?
Loyal Homer will argue that Klitschko made the better choice by keeping his fight date and signing a replacement opponent in Ruslan Chagaev.
Sports Geek will argue that Klitschko should have instead accepted the postponed date, because he had more to gain from the commercial appeal of a fight with David Haye.
Once the debaters have completed their argument, we will go to the judge’s scorecard (me) for the final decision…
–DING!-
Posted by Bleacher Fan 
