Most Disappointing Performance By A Brit In A Title Fight

This has been discussed before and Conteh v Saad Muhammad normally comes out top but lets have a look at recent big title matches involving British fighters in the context of Hayes performance last night.


Hamed v Barrera.......Naz's performance was similar to Hayes but Barrera put on a master class in how to box showing tremendous ability and variety that will make him an ATG.

Bugner v Ali..............Bugner less active than Haye, it's debatable. I've never liked Bugner and the The Jungle confirmed my view to me.

Bruno v Tyson 2........As has been discussed ad infinitum on here Frank blessing himself so much didn't bode well.

Cowdell V Nelson.......Azumha is Azumha so no great disgrace but it's never nice to be KO'd in Round 1 fighting at home. Sweet left upper cut.

Lockett v Pavlik........A very poor effort and didn't look like he tried or was too bothered about the result.

Hatton v Floyd.........Hatton was competitive in the fight and for the first few rounds made Floyd work. The scale of the fight and popularity of Hatton made it disappointing.

Woods v Tarver........Woods didn't show up on a night he could have done himself a lot of justice.

Ricky v Manny..........Very disappointing but Hatton threw everything he had at it so no question of bravery. He even had "Paquiao in trouble in the second".

Haye v Wlad.............Has a British fighter ever thrashed talked so much and hyped a fight to the level Haye did based on so little real evidence at a weight. The fact Wlad didn't have the tools to beat Haye up made it worse.


What was the biggest disappointment for you?

Reid v Malinga has to be up there for me. God awful fight.

Nelson- De Leon?

Akinwande v Lewis - the octopus bottled it from the opening bell.

Bob wrote:Reid v Malinga has to be up there for me. God awful fight.

Nelson- De Leon?

Akinwande v Lewis - the octopus bottled it from the opening bell.

Forgot about Akinwande v Lewis. That one is right up there.

It's a fine line between the 'most disappointing' and the 'worst.' Nelson-De Leon, Reid-Malinga, Skelton-Chagaev and Lockett-Pavlik may have produced some poor performances from the Brits, but given that the hype and expectations for those fights weren't all that great, they probably don't qualify as the biggest disappointments.

I think Haye's performance last night has to go in to the latter bracket, and somewhere near the top of it, too. By no means one of the worst performances by a Brit in a title bout, but given Haye's pedigree and record going in to it, and the fact that it was such a huge money spinner, means that the fans can't help but feel a little deflated by the manner of his defeat.

Strongback wrote: The fact Wlad didn't have the tools to beat Haye up made it worse.

Hu?

You watch the same fight?, I think WK beat up a running Haye all night and if Haye had come in more he would have been knocked out...

Im shocked that WK does not get more credit from some people, his boxing skills are second to none anf the only chink in his armour is he does not react well to clean shots... but even last night he proved he is not that bad.

Audley's performance against Haye was the worst.

J.Benson II wrote:Audley's performance against Haye was the worst.

That wasn't a fight it was just a couple of pals making a bit of money together.

I always assumed Haye would lose by KO after expending too much energy in the early rounds. It never occurred to me Haye would not even try to win.

Haye was dire and must now surely be remembered with the likes of Seldon and Damiani as one of the worst belt holders in history. Certainly below the likes of Bruno and Mercer.

herbie hide vs vitali - fair play to him, but he was blasted out good and proper.

You mention Hatton-May which was close after 6 and leave out...

Starling-Honeyghan (9-0)

Lockett-Pavlik is a good one.......complete mismatch......

Benn-Collins 2 should be a nailed on member of this bracket.

Don't think it was 9-0 but yeah it's another good example.

Ricky v Floyd is in because of the huge hype before the fights and many casual fans thinking Hatton was going to beat Mayweather.

Breland-Honey down 6 times in 7 minutes....

I acknowledge your superior knowledge of the finer details of Honey's career.

Audley vs Haye could actually be relevant looking at the sudden swing of support in Fraudley's direction only for the latter to throw next to nothing when the time came.

I was dissapointed given the way Haye hyped it up, but I've definately seen worse performances.

Haye v Wlad.............Has a British fighter ever thrashed talked so much and hyped a fight to the level Haye did based on so little real evidence at a weight. The fact Wlad didn't have the tools to beat Haye up made it worse.

---------

Are you kidding? Wlad barely needed to get outta third gear, he coasted to victory, didn't need the knockout.

Super D Boon wrote:
Are you kidding? Wlad barely needed to get outta third gear, he coasted to victory, didn't need the knockout.

Wlad wanted the KO. He said he was disapponted he didn't get it in the post fight presser.

Nelson v De Leon was like being trapped in a lift with Michael Owen and Alan Shearer, time actually moved backwards during that one

sammy reeson very bad

hatton v pacman more diasppointing than v floyd

audley was shocking

nelson v de leon terrible from both men

most disppointing how about lewis v rahman ???

or bentt v hide ?

enzo mavc v haye ?

What about Scott Welch vs Henry Akinwande? Utterly dismal!

Strongback wrote:

Super D Boon wrote:
Are you kidding? Wlad barely needed to get outta third gear, he coasted to victory, didn't need the knockout.

Wlad wanted the KO. He said he was disapponted he didn't get it in the post fight presser.

This is absolutely true. He made a big deal about Haye becoming his 50th KO. As it was he wasn't able to land many big shots flush, and when he did I was amazed Haye took them. About the only part of Gate's performance that was impressive, but still...

You can't include Audley as it is too soon and too sore a point for the nation. Maybe in 40 or 50 years we can put that disgrace behind us, but, for the moment, its best to act as if nothing happened.

erm... yes we can. The thread was most disappointing title fight by a Brit, and Haye v Audley was a title fight. It was very disappointing and sorry Haye bashers, he threw the punches, Aud was soley to blame for that one!

Super D Boon wrote:

Are you kidding? Wlad barely needed to get outta third gear, he coasted to victory, didn't need the knockout.

Were we watching the same fight? Wlad was concentrating massively the whole time, his face was so focused it was unbelievable. Sorry, but no! Yes this fight was very disappointing as David couldn't do what he really hoped to do....but, less of the fiction.

There was a little tongue in cheek in the comment. I didn't expect anyone to really take it seriously!!

Strongback wrote:
The fact Wlad didn't have the tools to beat Haye up made it worse.

The fact that he got hit a couple of times with right hands from Wlad and didn't go down, did nothing to spur Haye onwards???, obviously because they hurt him and Haye didn't fancy taking another one on the way in, as far as him saying Haye was going to be number 50 ....Wlad was doing his best to try and join in the pre-fight mud slinging.......really Wlad is and always will be an intelligent 'safety first' boxer 'maybe not an exciting fighter' and he stayed with his weight firmly planted on the back foot ready to go backwards all the way through the fight, if he'd followed through with his jabs then he'd have done more damage but then would have been less able to respond to a counter hook or over hand right so....safety first and all the hype etc etc didn't get Wlad to alter his game plan and come forward, very professional Wlad, welldone.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You mention Hatton-May which was close after 6 and leave out...

Starling-Honeyghan (9-0)

Lockett-Pavlik is a good one.......complete mismatch......

Benn-Collins 2 should be a nailed on member of this bracket.

9-0 Truss? except for the first three rounds that Honeyghan won on the judges cards

Strongback wrote:
Hamed v Barrera.......Naz's performance was similar to Hayes.......The fact Wlad didn't have the tools to beat Haye up made it worse.

~Dear sir, one would have to conclude with your opening and closing examples that you have never watched a round of boxing in your life.

Mr. Naz was outclassed, but not for want of trying or the paralyzing fear that saw Mr. Haye in the most unmanly positions seen in the ring in some time.

Mr. Wlad most certainly has all the tools needed to dismantle all who come before him, thus the unseemly hatred of his cautious technical style by critics who know less about boxing than they do rocket science, but they're pretty up on the tabloid scene that propped Mr. Haye up Audley style.

At the end of the day sir, it is a boxing match and all the rich history that entails, so it behooves you to learn something of it unless you wish to be doomed on Barney World for the duration of your years.

BALTIMORA wrote:

Strongback wrote:

Super D Boon wrote:
Are you kidding? Wlad barely needed to get outta third gear, he coasted to victory, didn't need the knockout.

Wlad wanted the KO. He said he was disapponted he didn't get it in the post fight presser.

This is absolutely true. He made a big deal about Haye becoming his 50th KO. As it was he wasn't able to land many big shots flush, and when he did I was amazed Haye took them. About the only part of Gate's performance that was impressive, but still...

Yeah but Haye was backing off all the time so took the sting outta the shots. Wlad wasn't pushed outta third just because his face was focussed. Haye was good in defensive mode gave him few problems offensively.