A fight full of drama from the ring walk through to the 11th round stoppage, the pre-fight consensus was ripped up as the Liverpool bomber left the ring victorious. However, this barely tells the full story.
As David Haye walked out in pedestrian fashion to his remixed song of ‘Aint No Stopping Us Now,’ was the ‘Hayemaker’ entertaining the thought of this being his last hurrah or was he simply soaking in the energy of the 21,000 packed 02 crowd? Whatever the case, the image of Tony Bellew dancing in nonchalant fashion at his opponents song was a sight to behold. It seemed as if something was in the air. Haye never looked once at the Liverpudlian upon stepping into the ring whilst Bellew never took his eyes of him. The Bomber was there to win.
Once the action commenced, rounds one to five could be summed up pretty easily. Haye looked ring rusty in the opener, over reaching as Bellew caught his opponent with a left hook to show the world he was not in there to make up the numbers. The second was more even, whilst rounds three to five saw a more composed Haye investing a lot of his work to the body to take the sessions.
Then came round six. With one minute and forty five seconds left, Haye retreated onto his back foot and visibly injured his achilles/ankle and the fight was Bellew’s to lose thereafter. In truth, witnessing a man realise in front of the world that his career was in crisis due to powers outside of his jurisdiction was sad to see. To Haye’s credit, he showcased tremendous heart and courage to stick to the task in the hope of landing the equaliser but the fight was gone. Boxers generate power and move in and out of range with their legs but Haye simply couldn’t’. The towel was justifiably thrown by the corner in the eleventh round upon Haye hitting the canvas for a second time in the contest as Bellew reigned supreme.
Aside from the injury which was an obvious advantage, Bellew must take credit for the skill and chin he showed. His feet and range control was impressive early on as well as his own body work too. The ‘Bomber’ also broke his hand in the second round but kept his composure throughout to finish the job and shock the world in what played out to be a real life Rocky story.
Article courtesy of Neel Khagram @behindthefight
www.behindthefight.com
As David Haye walked out in pedestrian fashion to his remixed song of ‘Aint No Stopping Us Now,’ was the ‘Hayemaker’ entertaining the thought of this being his last hurrah or was he simply soaking in the energy of the 21,000 packed 02 crowd? Whatever the case, the image of Tony Bellew dancing in nonchalant fashion at his opponents song was a sight to behold. It seemed as if something was in the air. Haye never looked once at the Liverpudlian upon stepping into the ring whilst Bellew never took his eyes of him. The Bomber was there to win.
Once the action commenced, rounds one to five could be summed up pretty easily. Haye looked ring rusty in the opener, over reaching as Bellew caught his opponent with a left hook to show the world he was not in there to make up the numbers. The second was more even, whilst rounds three to five saw a more composed Haye investing a lot of his work to the body to take the sessions.
Then came round six. With one minute and forty five seconds left, Haye retreated onto his back foot and visibly injured his achilles/ankle and the fight was Bellew’s to lose thereafter. In truth, witnessing a man realise in front of the world that his career was in crisis due to powers outside of his jurisdiction was sad to see. To Haye’s credit, he showcased tremendous heart and courage to stick to the task in the hope of landing the equaliser but the fight was gone. Boxers generate power and move in and out of range with their legs but Haye simply couldn’t’. The towel was justifiably thrown by the corner in the eleventh round upon Haye hitting the canvas for a second time in the contest as Bellew reigned supreme.
Aside from the injury which was an obvious advantage, Bellew must take credit for the skill and chin he showed. His feet and range control was impressive early on as well as his own body work too. The ‘Bomber’ also broke his hand in the second round but kept his composure throughout to finish the job and shock the world in what played out to be a real life Rocky story.
Article courtesy of Neel Khagram @behindthefight
www.behindthefight.com
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