Wladimir Klitschko Vs. David Haye is Official!

After months of negotiations, the much anticipated heavyweight boxing match-up between England's David Haye (22-1, 21 KO's) and Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KO's) was finally announced official and a deal was reached. The date is for June 20 with a location still to be announced. Klitschko is the #1 heavyweight and the current WBO, IBF, and IBO Heavyweight Champion while Haye is the former WBC, WBA, and WBO Cruiserweight Champion who moved up to the heavyweight division. The leading locations are either in David Haye's hometown of England or in Klitschko's adopted hometown of Germany where the Klitschko brothers are treated as superstars. This is perhaps the best heavyweight match available right now aside from both Klitschko brothers facing each other and they said it would never happen.

This is an intriguing match-up for a number of reasons. Both Klitschko and Haye have big power (both have 80%+ KO's) and have been proven to have shaky chins at times. Klitschko has been knocked down 12 times in his career, and has been TKO'ed in all three of his losses (Sanders, Purrity, Brewster). Haye has been knocked down 4 times in his career and his only loss is also by TKO (Thompson). Since both have great KO power and not so great chins, convential wisdom says that who ever lands the first big punch will win the fight. Klitschko's strengths against Haye is his jab and his experience, as well as having fought the better competition. Klitschko has the best jab in the heavyweight division and has more than two and a half times more fights than does Haye. Another one of Klitschko's and Haye's weakness is stamina problems. In Klitschko's losses against Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster, Klitschko was easily ahead on the scorecards when he ran out of gas, and was TKO'ed. The same thing happened to Haye in his fight against Carl Thompson. Don't expect this fight to go the full 12 rounds.

Klitschko and Haye had their first head-to-head meeting in April 2008 in London. Klitschko and Haye have two very different personalities. Haye is a notorious trash talker who has a big ego while Klitschko doesn't talk trash and proves it in the ring. Even though it was only three minutes, Haye got under Klitschko's skin with some of the things he said. Since that meeting, Haye knocked out Monte Barrett in five rounds and Klitschko knocked out Tony Thompson in eleven rounds and Hasim Rahman in seven rounds. It was first expected that Klitschko's older brother Vitali would get first crack at David Haye on June 20 but that fell through when it was announced that Vitali had to face his mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez who he knocked out in nine rounds. The rivalry between the Klitschko brothers and Haye only got deeper when Haye posed in Men's Health Magazine with Wladimir Klitschko's severed head. This infuriated the Klitschko's and a match between David Haye and one of the Klitschko brothers was inevitable.

Klitschko has won his last 10 fights since losing to Brewster in 2004 and is recognized as the best heavyweight fighter. Haye has won his last 12 fights including his last five by TKO since his only loss, also in 2004. Haye was also recognized as the undisputed cruiserweight champion after knocking out Enzo Maccarinelli in two rounds. Klitschko and Haye are in their primes right now so expect a great fight, for however long it lasts.

It has also been announced that HBO will cover this fight for everyone in the USA, Setanta for everyone in England, and RTL for everyone in Germany.