Hindsight will be Haye’s unyielding Tormentor

boxingnews24.com

By Rishad Marquardt: David Haye won over admiration from large sections of the boxing community including from both fighters and fans on March 4th, 2017, in his shocking and sensational war with Tony Bellew. This admiration has previously been largely limited to Haye’s boxing ability and his athleticism, but was never really directed at his bravery or character. Many saw Haye as a fighter who pulled-out of and set-back key fights, as someone who didn’t take responsibility when results didn’t go his way, and was often too cocky.

But on Saturday night, the public’s moral evaluation of Haye unquestionably shifted. The scale of the shift was not seismic, but was without doubt significant and palpable. The severe and sudden pain of an Achilles tendon rupture would be chronic enough to incapacitate most boxers, but for one that weighs well over 200 pounds, that pain can only be intensified. Haye, breathing heavily, barely grimaced after the rupture, demonstrating his incredible resistance to pain and more than that, his determination not to go out on the canvas. But even considering his elevated status, Haye is now in a sizable predicament that is going to seriously test his mental resolve.

Losing to Bellew is one thing but losing to Bellew in the context in which he did will have embarrassed him more than his ego will allow him to swallow. In the buildup, Haye believed so strongly that his victory was an inevitability, that he had left an impression on those around him that this was not just a fight in which one fighter was a strong favorite, but that it was such a mismatch that Bellew’s representatives could almost be accused of negligence for.

Then there was the contrast in training camps. Bellew often spoke of just how grim his was and yet on the other hand, Haye was sharing with the world what a fantastic time he was having. Whether he was over-partying and under-training or not doesn’t really matter. What matters here is the image Haye was projecting; this fight is so out-of-reach for my opponent that I don’t even need to take it seriously.

You take away the pre-fight trash talk and the portrayal of his indifference towards preparing for the fight, and you are left with a man who should have won, got injured, lost, but showed incredible heart to continue and not concede. You put them back in to the equation and although the admiration for his grit is still there, his reputation is without question tarnished because of his self-professed account that this was in no way, shape, or form a fight that he should have ever lost under any circumstances. If only he would have been more modest in his approach, announcing retirement now would have been significantly easier than it will be now.

Now though, Haye is in a difficult predicament consisting of two options. One of which is to retire on the back of a defeat that will leave a big dent on his pride, an option not in sync with his DNA. The other is to continue. Continuing will first mean recovering from a new major injury. Even if this goes smoothly, this new injury, added to all the others he has accumulated, is going to leave him seriously compromised when it comes to training. Knowing that something could give way at any moment is bound to prevent him from testing his limits and ignoring this could easily invite more injuries to the party. Let us say this goes well and he manages to fight again. Who would he fight? Who would want to fight him? Would the public be willing to buy a PPV for a fight in which they are uncertain about just how physically fit one the fighters is? David Haye is 36 now and going down this route would be dangerous and filled with pot-holes. The road to a world title would have been in touching distance had he won on Saturday, now though, it couldn’t seem further away.

Which brings us back to option one. Retirement. This is the sensible and probably only viable and realistic option for Haye but it’s one that is that will fill him with a real sense of embarrassment. He was supposed to discard of Tony Bellew with ease, and because he expressed so adamantly just how easy he thought it would be, retiring without being able to prove himself again will surely incite remorse and regret within himself about his approach to this fight. David Haye should be enormously proud of his achievements and is and will continue to be accredited with a hugely impressive career in the fight game. But in the future, he will likely have to accept these accolades with a somewhat heavy heart and at least a small portion of egg on his face.