Underdog Haye Threatens Valuev with Rocky Horror Show
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Real life Rocky – can Haye overcome his Russian Drago in Nikolay Valuev?
It’s not often that boxing comes into the consciousness of mainstream media, but the match up described as David vs Goliath between Brit hopeful David Haye and Russian giant Nikolay Valuev is just too good to resist.
In Haye’s own words “people do love a freak show” and the morbid fascination of watching a 6ft 3in “midget” trying to overcome a 7ft 2in monster weighing in at around 23 stone has certainly got people talking.
The world heavyweight title is at stake tomorrow night in Germany at the Arena Nurnerger Versicherung, but boxing’s most prestigious title is playing second fiddle to the spectacle of watching an underdog scrap for his life against a man appropriately called The Beast from the East.
The match up is so cinematic, it’s difficult not to look for parallels from the greatest underdog story Hollywood has ever seen – Rocky.
The eponymous hero of Rocky IV also had to face an enormous Russian who favoured brute power of speed and finesse.
Valuev is certainly not known for his boxing skill, but with an 88 inch reach and hands the size of squash rackets, the Russian can pack quite an astonishing punch.
Haye is certainly no slouch though. In 23 fights, Haye has only ever lost once, and has an astonishing 95 per cent knockout rate. The Russian bear has never even been put on the floor, let alone knocked out, but Haye sees that as all part of the challenge: “It’s possible to knock out any human being, regardless of their size, and somehow I’ll find a way to do it,” he told Sport magazine.
Of course, part of the hype of the match has come from the inevitable trash talking before the fight. Valuev has remained stoic and silent, but Haye has baited his opponent: “I believe the heavyweight title belongs in Britain and that’s my aim – to round up the titles from these Russian pretenders.”
Haye has called the Russian, a “freak”, “ugly”, “stinky” and “weird”, the highlight of which has to be: “I don’t know what sort of nuclear pond he grew up in, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a brother with five arms or something.” All of which sounds a little bit like immense pride before a huge fall.
Let’s hope Haye is more Rocky than Apollo Creed – either way Saturday’s fight will be quite a spectacle.
