David Haye's Return Signals The Golden Age Of British Boxing
David Haye's Return Signals The Golden Age Of British Boxing
FloBoxing examines the state of contemporary British boxing ahead of David Haye's long awaited return to the ring.
By Roy Billington
London, England, July 14, 2012. An elated David Haye stands smiling inside of the ring at Upton Park, the home of West Ham United. After months of pre-fight smack talk, David Haye has finally silenced the powerful Derek Chisora. Haye and Chisora first rumbled at a press conference in February, but the victor was inconclusive, however there would be no mistake this time around.
Over the course of five rounds, Haye systematically annihilated the lumbering Chisora in one of his most impressive performances to date, before finally finishing his foe with a barrage of punches in the 5th. As Haye stood in a sold out stadium in his hometown, Haye couldn’t be blamed for letting his mind drift toward thoughts of a title shot, but what happened next for the former champion would be unthinkable.
Haye’s title aspirations soon subsided, as the months ebbed by, Haye was the victim to a litany of injuries. Firstly, the former champion was forced to pull out of a fight with Manuel Charr in June of 2013, but he was forced to pull out with a minor injury. Haye’s final injury fiasco would happen when he was booked to fight Tyson Fury, Haye pulled out of the fight at one weeks notice with a cut and then when the fight was rescheduled he soon suffered a cataclysmic shoulder injury. Following his shoulder injury, David Haye begrudgingly accepted his doctor’s advice to retire.
As David Haye sat on the sidelines, a new generation of British heavyweights began to assert their dominance on an international level. When Haye hung up his gloves, the fight fans of the UK were left without an active idol to look up to, but over recent years two men have began to pick up the mantle.
Anthony Joshua has been synonymous with fan-friendly fistic fun since his exceptional gold medal winning performance at the 2012 Olympics and in Haye’s absence, Joshua soon became the darling of British boxing. While Haye’s boots have been hard to fill, since turning professional, Joshua has garnered mainstream media attention and has looked simply superb in the ring. Joshua’s spectacular 15-0 record has endeared him to far flung fans, but one man stands above him as the king of British boxing.
When Tyson Fury was booked to face Wladimir Klitschko in late 2015, few expected the Brit to stand a chance, but over the course of 12 rounds, Fury made, the once seemingly invincible, Klitschko seem mortal enroute to a unanimous decision victory. Fury’s performance gave Britain its first truly legitimate heavyweight champion in years. Unlike Joshua, Fury has marginalized the majority of boxing fans in the UK with his bizarre homophobic tirades, but given the fact that he is the champion of the world, he likely has his eyes firmly set on Haye.
Watching his compatriots reach meteoric highs lit a fire beneath Haye, seeing Fury easily dispatch Klitschko, the man he once famously lost to, gave Haye impetus to lace up his gloves for one last run at the gold. On Saturday night, Haye makes his long-awaited return against Mark de Mori at the O2 Arena in his home town of London, England.
Mark de Mori is a throwback to the olden days of boxing, de Mori isn’t particularly known for his technical proficiency, but his aggressiveness and power are a joy to behold. Out of his 30 fights, de Mori has finished 25 of his opponents, including a first round TKO in his last fight. The real intrigue that surrounds de Mori isn’t his in-ring performances, his really interesting feature is his unorthodox fighting roots.
Mark de Mori was deaf until the age of 4 and as a child, the hulking heavyweight was very ill, it wasn’t until he found old boxing tapes that his fighting passion was ignited and instead of finding a coach in his home country of Australia, de Mori thought himself the intricacies of pugilism while battling a severe version of asthma. The fact that de Mori amounted to anything with cards he was dealt is impressive, the fact that he became a highly touted prize fighter is unbelievable.
In his time away from the ring things have changed for Haye, Haye is no longer training with Adam Booth, instead he is training under the tutelage of Shane McGuigan, the son of former featherweight kingpin, Barry McGuigan. In addition to Haye’s coaching changes, the Hayemaker has elected to adopt a vegan diet while simultaneously bulking up in preparation of facing the division's biggest fighters.
While de Mori should act as a stiff test, Haye’s speed should be the deciding factor in this one. Expect Haye to land earnestly from the outside in early rounds before perhaps scoring a finish in the latter portions of this fight. If victorious, expect Haye to use his time on the mic to issue a challenge to both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, who will be watching with vested interest.
David Haye vs. Mark de Mori goes down on Saturday night and will be live on Dave TV at 9 PM in the UK.
London, England, July 14, 2012. An elated David Haye stands smiling inside of the ring at Upton Park, the home of West Ham United. After months of pre-fight smack talk, David Haye has finally silenced the powerful Derek Chisora. Haye and Chisora first rumbled at a press conference in February, but the victor was inconclusive, however there would be no mistake this time around.
Over the course of five rounds, Haye systematically annihilated the lumbering Chisora in one of his most impressive performances to date, before finally finishing his foe with a barrage of punches in the 5th. As Haye stood in a sold out stadium in his hometown, Haye couldn’t be blamed for letting his mind drift toward thoughts of a title shot, but what happened next for the former champion would be unthinkable.
Haye’s title aspirations soon subsided, as the months ebbed by, Haye was the victim to a litany of injuries. Firstly, the former champion was forced to pull out of a fight with Manuel Charr in June of 2013, but he was forced to pull out with a minor injury. Haye’s final injury fiasco would happen when he was booked to fight Tyson Fury, Haye pulled out of the fight at one weeks notice with a cut and then when the fight was rescheduled he soon suffered a cataclysmic shoulder injury. Following his shoulder injury, David Haye begrudgingly accepted his doctor’s advice to retire.
As David Haye sat on the sidelines, a new generation of British heavyweights began to assert their dominance on an international level. When Haye hung up his gloves, the fight fans of the UK were left without an active idol to look up to, but over recent years two men have began to pick up the mantle.
Anthony Joshua has been synonymous with fan-friendly fistic fun since his exceptional gold medal winning performance at the 2012 Olympics and in Haye’s absence, Joshua soon became the darling of British boxing. While Haye’s boots have been hard to fill, since turning professional, Joshua has garnered mainstream media attention and has looked simply superb in the ring. Joshua’s spectacular 15-0 record has endeared him to far flung fans, but one man stands above him as the king of British boxing.
When Tyson Fury was booked to face Wladimir Klitschko in late 2015, few expected the Brit to stand a chance, but over the course of 12 rounds, Fury made, the once seemingly invincible, Klitschko seem mortal enroute to a unanimous decision victory. Fury’s performance gave Britain its first truly legitimate heavyweight champion in years. Unlike Joshua, Fury has marginalized the majority of boxing fans in the UK with his bizarre homophobic tirades, but given the fact that he is the champion of the world, he likely has his eyes firmly set on Haye.
Watching his compatriots reach meteoric highs lit a fire beneath Haye, seeing Fury easily dispatch Klitschko, the man he once famously lost to, gave Haye impetus to lace up his gloves for one last run at the gold. On Saturday night, Haye makes his long-awaited return against Mark de Mori at the O2 Arena in his home town of London, England.
Mark de Mori is a throwback to the olden days of boxing, de Mori isn’t particularly known for his technical proficiency, but his aggressiveness and power are a joy to behold. Out of his 30 fights, de Mori has finished 25 of his opponents, including a first round TKO in his last fight. The real intrigue that surrounds de Mori isn’t his in-ring performances, his really interesting feature is his unorthodox fighting roots.
Mark de Mori was deaf until the age of 4 and as a child, the hulking heavyweight was very ill, it wasn’t until he found old boxing tapes that his fighting passion was ignited and instead of finding a coach in his home country of Australia, de Mori thought himself the intricacies of pugilism while battling a severe version of asthma. The fact that de Mori amounted to anything with cards he was dealt is impressive, the fact that he became a highly touted prize fighter is unbelievable.
In his time away from the ring things have changed for Haye, Haye is no longer training with Adam Booth, instead he is training under the tutelage of Shane McGuigan, the son of former featherweight kingpin, Barry McGuigan. In addition to Haye’s coaching changes, the Hayemaker has elected to adopt a vegan diet while simultaneously bulking up in preparation of facing the division's biggest fighters.
While de Mori should act as a stiff test, Haye’s speed should be the deciding factor in this one. Expect Haye to land earnestly from the outside in early rounds before perhaps scoring a finish in the latter portions of this fight. If victorious, expect Haye to use his time on the mic to issue a challenge to both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, who will be watching with vested interest.
David Haye vs. Mark de Mori goes down on Saturday night and will be live on Dave TV at 9 PM in the UK.