Sunday, 19 February 2012

British Boxing's Night of Shame


It was supposed to be Derek Chisora's big night. As highlighted in the previous post, Chisora more than exceeded the pre fight expectations many people had of him, taking Vitali Klitschko all 12 rounds. Sure he lost, but he proved he had not just ability, but a hell of a lot of heart. Now that should have been that, and Chisora himself would probably have been on his way home to a heroes reception by now. Instead he is currently being detained by the German authorities.

After the fight, both he and Vitali were present in the post-fight press conference, usually a time to reflect upon how the fight shaped, and what comes next. Cue Britain's David Haye. The 'Haymaker' had been acting as a pundit at the event and so when his duties there had been completed, he wasn't content with letting Chisora receive the praise is was so deserved of. Repeatedly he interrupted the speakers from the back of the room, who included the manager of both Klitschko's, Bernd Boente, the Klitschko's themselves, promoter Frank Warren and of course, Derek Chisora.

Haye speaks his mind during the conference.

Despite pleas from Chisora's trainer that echoed "Security please get rid of this man," Haye was allowed to stay. He then turned his attention to Bernd Boente, arguing that he had already arranged a fight with Vitali and that Vitali was scared to fight him because "he can't do it anymore." Boente responded, stating that "Contrary to David Haye, Derek Chisora really went for it and really tried. You showed your toe." The last bit of this sentence indicates to Haye's last fight against Wladimir Klitschko, after which he blamed a broken little toe for his defeat.

Now it was time for Chisora himself to let his feelings on the matter be heard. A few jibes were thrown, within which he labelled David Haye as the reason "Sky Sports don't do Box Office," and called him an "embarrassment." Insults were in typical Haye fashion reciprocated and eventually it led to a heated exchange of words between the two British heavyweights. The Klitschko's meanwhile merely watched in amusement as the best that England has to offer bickered amongst themselves. Not only did both boxers fail in their attempts to dethrone the brothers, but they were now attacking each other.

This was the point where a cool head, possibly one of the managers, namely Haye's Adam Booth, should have stepped in and terminated the childish proceedings. Rather than the aftermath of a heavyweight world title fight that bought with it tornado of entertainment, Chisora and Haye's tit for tat appeared rather more reminiscent of a playground scrap. Needless to say, it was far from finished at mere words.

Responding to Haye's taunts of "you've lost three fights in a row," Chisora left the stage and confronted his aggressor head on; fireworks ensued. It wasn't clear who threw the first blow, but within seconds Chisora and Haye were rolling around the press conference floor, photographers and journalists capturing every moment of their half-witted lunacy. On a night when British boxing was supposed to feel pride for one of its sons, it was fast becoming the laughing stock of the world.





Chisora and Haye face-off
  
           The fighting ensues


Numerous blows are thrown as the pair exchange
Wladimir Klitschko watches on in amusement

The pair were eventually separated, with Chisora screaming "you f****** glassed me, are you mad?" Video clips seem to suggest that Haye did in fact still have a bottle of soft drink in his hand when a punch aimed at Chisora's jaw was thrown. Once Haye had been forced from the room, the extent of the brawl became clear. Haye's trainer, Adam Booth, appeared to have also been hit by some sort of object as, whilst blood streamed down his face, he asked Derek Chisora who had hit him with a bottle.

Britain's big night of boxing had turned into Britain's biggest boxing nightmare, as it was shamed before the world press in Munich. It even led Boente to conclude "with the bad experience we've had from British fighters we will now look for other countries." To add to Britain's embarrassment, both Haye and Chisora have been detained for police questioning. Although no arrests were formally made, Britain's boxing best were detained over night and not allowed to travel home. 

There is no doubt that Chisora made the nation proud within the ring, but his actions out of it, much mirroring  Haye's usual tactless attitude, have made a mockery of British Boxing. Chisora talks of the importance of role models, and how boxing had saved him from perhaps falling into crime on the streets, but at the minute he's doing about as much for the sport in terms of healthy promotion, as Haye managed whilst in the ring with Wladimir Klitschko. 

We have every right to be embarrassed. 

For the video coverage of the press conference see:

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1 comment:

  1. Liam19 February 2012 at 06:46

    I think that David Haye is a disgrace to the sport and shouldn't be allowed to compete with actions like that. I did fine this blog very useful and was full of vital information to the sport.

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