Rumors had been running rampant all week that two-division world champion David Haye was going to retire. Although few people believed him, Haye had stated for quite some time that he wanted to retire by his 31st birthday. Since his lackluster performance against Wladimir Klitschko, even fewer seemed to care. However, earlier today, the day of his 31st birthday, Haye himself put the rumors to rest when he made it official; the former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion announced his retirement from the sport. "As the clock struck 12 last night, my professional boxing career came to an end," he revealed. "It has been my intention to retire from the sport of boxing on this particular day ever since I first laced up a pair of gloves as a skinny 10-year old." The question now is, how will David Haye be remembered?
During a candid conversation I previously had with James Ali Bashir, the assistant trainer for Wladimir Klitschko, he referred to Haye as the biggest con in boxing history. Bashir stated that Haye did nothing to earn a shot at the undisputed Heavyweight crown except talk his way into it. As I laughed at the statement, it was really hard to disagree. For all of the talking that Haye did as the Cruiserweight champion about how boring the Klitschko brothers were, and how they were destroying the Heavyweight division, what did Haye himself do?
Haye trashed-talked the Klitschkos, going as far as wearing a t-shirt of him holding the Klitschko brothers' heads in his hands while standing over their bodies. When he was given the opportunity he asked for, Haye canceled fights with both Wladimir and Vitali due to "injuries" or "slave contracts", as he referred to it back in 2009. At first, many thought Haye had punked out, but as some of the terms of the contract came out, there appeared to be some truth in his comments and a good business decision for him to pull out. Haye later defeated Nikolay Valuev in 2009 to win the WBA title in a boring fight. By capturing a world championship and defending it a couple of times, Haye had more leverage when it came to negotiating against the Klitschkos.
Finally, after nearly 2 years since he was first supposed to fight Wladimir Klitschko, Haye got his big chance. The time was perfect for the fight. Haye held a title, the hatred between both fighters, as well as the demand for the fight, was at an all-time high. It was the biggest fight in the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson, and the money each of the fighters would earn was insane. The only question left was could Haye pull off the upset?
Unfortunately, after all of the hype, the fight was a total letdown in every aspect of boxing. Haye, who promised to KO Klitschko and save the Heavyweight division, only went for a one-punch KO in every round. In the biggest moment of his career, Haye came into the fight looking like he had no real game plan and he refused to engage to improve his chances to win. To make matters worse, instead of admitting he fought horribly, Haye took off his shoe and showed everyone his swollen baby toe, immediately offering up proof that he was injured. For a moment in time, I thought I flashed back to watching Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance.
So with all that being said, now that he's made it official, do you think Haye is really going to stay retired? Coule it possibly be another negotiating tool to build up a fight with Vitali Klitschko, a fight that was said to be in negotiations, but according to Haye, was taking too long to get done? More importantly, if he does stay retired, how will he be remembered? Will David Haye be remembered as being the Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion of the world and a Heavyweight titlist? Will he be remembered for being a trash-talker who could not come close to backing up what he said? Will he be remembered for "toegate"? Will David Haye be remembered, like Bashir said, as the biggest con in boxing history? Or worse than that, will David Haye even be remembered?