David vs. Goliath for the Heavyweight Title

This morning in Germany, WBA heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev (left) and challenger David Haye sized each other up for the first time.

David Haye was a bit flabbergasted on Tuesday morning. He had just emerged from the press conference to announce his Nov. 7 battle against Nikolai Valuev for the WBA heavyweight title. The promoters have deemed the bout “David vs. Goliath” and it will take place in Nuremberg, Germany.

In a very brief telephone conversation, Haye said it was the first time he had met Valuev in person and he said the 7'2” tall 320-pound Russian giant is like nothing he has ever seen.

“He's a big, ugly boy,” chuckled Haye who is never at a loss for words when it comes to denigrating the opposition. “He's uglier than I thought he would be. It's comical. He looks like something out of 'Lord of the Rings' or something to me.”

Haye, the former cruiserweight champion, stands 6'3” tall and has never officially weighed more than 217 pounds. On the other hand, Valuev routinely tips the scales in the vicinity of 320 pounds.

However, Valuev's enormous size seemed of little concern to Haye, who is never short on confidence.

“He's never been hit by anybody that is as fast and hits as hard as I do,” said Haye, who has a record of 22-1, 21KOs. “At the end of the day he's going to get the same sort of treatment that everyone else has gotten when they get in the ring with the Hayemaker.”

Haye noted that his game plan will be to use his speed to land his shots and then use that same speed to evade the punches that the plodding Valuev returns.

“He throws slow punches,” said Haye. “I think I'll chop him down.”


September 2009