Following his win by first-round TKO over Mark de Mori this past Saturday, heavyweight David Haye is now ranked ninth by the WBA.
Haye’s bout with de Mori was his first since stopping Dereck Chisora by fifth-round TKO in July 2012, thus winning both the vacant WBA Inter-Continental and vacant WBO International heavyweight titles, since sidelined by various injuries. The “Hayemaker,” 35, first stepped in the ring in 2002, 25 of his 27 victories coming by way of knockout, only Ismail Abdoul in July 2006 and Nikolay Valuev in November 2009 going the distance, the former losing the EBU cruiserweight title by unanimous decision, the latter losing the WBA World heavyweight title by majority decision. Haye has lost twice, stopped by Carl Thompson via fifth-round TKO in September 2004, and losing in his bid for the WBA Super World heavyweight title to Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision in July 2011.
Tyson Fury is the WBA Super World heavyweight champ, while Ruslan Chagaev is the WBA World heavyweight champ. Fury refuses to meet Haye, miffed that he twice pulled out of a match that had been scheduled for 2013. The Londoner hoped to at least challenge Chagaev, but the WBA has decided to hold a tournament instead.
WBA President Gilberto Jesus Mendoza explained.
“We currently have three world champions,” he said, “Tyson Fury as the Super Champion, Ruslan Chagaev as the Regular Champion, and Luis Oritz as the Interim Champion. In order to have one champion like everybody is expecting from the WBA, and like everybody wants, we have set the following tournament.
“Ruslan Chagaev will face Lucas Browne on March the 5th in Germany. The winner must face Fres Oquendo, who by U.S. court order earned his right to this fight.
“The next group will start with a fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury. When Klitschko and Fury met the first time, there was a contract approved by the WBA that had a rematch clause that we intend to respect. So the winner of this fight will have to face the winner of Luis Ortiz against Alexander Ustinov, a fight that was called for negotiations and the end period will be February 4th.
“In any case,” continued Sr. Mendoza, “if they don’t reach an agreement, we will have a purse bid that will determine the date and the place of the fight. The winners of the two groups will fight for the world championship and the WBA will have only one champion as everybody expects.”
Where this leaves Haye is uncertain at present, but he’s glad of his return to the ring. “When we set out on this journey, the aim was to bring boxing back to as many people as possible and we have certainly done that,” he says. “We have worked relentlessly for the past seven weeks to put together an amazing event and I’m humbled that over three million people tuned in and 16,000 came down to The O2 to see me in action. This is just the beginning of the road back to regaining the heavyweight championship of the world. I’m thankful for all the support I’ve received so far and hope the fans stick with me because there is a lot more to come from The Hayemaker.”
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
