WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has shot the ball back to the Klitschko brothers by making Wladimir, the WBO-IBF champion, a 50-50 offer. Negotiations between David Haye and the WBC champion, Vitali Klitschko, had stalled over the division of money. First Vitali Klitschko more or less insisted on getting the lion’s share of the pie, only to later offer Haye a 50-50 split. The Briton balked and essentially insisted on keeping the British TV rights for himself, which in effect was taking the bigger share of the potential revenue.
What makes this offer so interesting is not that Haye backed down and is now asking for only half of the pot. The fascinating part is that the focus has shifted from big brother Vitali, who has been the one calling Haye out up until now, to little brother Wladimir. In previous articles, I speculated that Vitali was taking point because the two brothers had privately agreed that he should do so. The two Klitschkos often work in tandem in this fashion.
Indeed, Vitali is still the trash-talker in chief of the pair, and only yesterday (December 21st) he was bad-mouthing Haye. Only now, Vitali is talking trash on behalf of his brother rather than himself. Haye has targeted both Klitschkos in the past, and is now effectively elbowing Vitali aside and charging straight after Wladimir. Could there be something to this?
Although many American fight fans are so bored with the two Klitschkos that they can barely tell them apart, there are some stylistic differences between them. Both rely on a stand-up boxing style that makes the most of the substantial height and reach advantages that either brother enjoys over almost all their opposition (and Haye is no exception). However, Vitali is the bigger, stronger fighter. He is also endowed with the harder chin, and as a result shows more willingness to take risks and mix things up than Wladimir. Wladimir, on the other hand, is the more athletic, mobile and agile of the two brothers. However, his chin has been cracked before, and Wladimir has shown late-fight stamina issues in the past. The shift in attention to Wladimir might mean Haye thinks the younger brother is the more beatable of the two.
[Editor’s Note: Wladimir, Vitali and Haye are 1-2-3 in the heavyweight division rankings].
This could be just another step in the dance Haye and the Klitschkos have been engaged in for more than a year now, and frankly I won’t believe the fight is a done deal until I start seeing PPV ads for it on the Sky Network. Vitali Klitschko had previously called for exactly this 50-50 split, but that could have been nothing more than hot air. Assuming Wladimir Klitschko puts his money where Vitali’s mouth was, the issues of mandatory challengers and the fight venue still remain. Once again, Vitali Klitschko said he would fight Haye anywhere, but was that in earnest and does it apply to Wladimir? The only thing certain at this point is that the ball is now in Wladimir Klitschko’s court.
