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Click for larger image © Stefan Christou / Saddo Boxing
Making the first defence of his EBU Cruiserweight crown, Bermondsey’s David Haye delighted a capacity crowd inside the atmospheric York Hall with a gruelling eighth round stoppage of amateur rival Lasse Johansen. Headlining the Maloney Promotions bill, Haye saw his early thunder bounce off the concrete features of an impossibly sturdy challenger before a furious flurry of leather ended matters suddenly and spectacularly.
Dragged beyond the fifth round for the first time in a career jam-packed with glittering knockouts, the freakishly powerful Haye huffed and puffed but still had enough to blow his man down – eventually. With his shock loss to Carl Thompson still daisy fresh in our minds, more than a few breaths were held in the roaring partisan crowd when the lanky challenger slapped the champion across the face with a scornful smile after withstanding his best offerings. It was a look that carried more weight than any punch he’d thrown to that point, and seemed to knock Haye back on his heels.
As any knockout puncher with suspect stamina would surely attest, climbing between the ropes with a fighter such as Johansen is a nightmarish prospect. Not because he carries frightening power or possesses great ring savvy, but purely because his chin is stuffed with a diamond-hard substance and protected by an airtight guard. He’ll make you throw, he’ll make you move, and, if conditioning is something you lack, he’ll make your lungs burn. Haye, to his credit, sensed that he was in for a long night as early as the second round and wisely took his foot off the gas.
From that point on, though, he looked to be fighting as though petrified of running out of steam. He was pushed back, roughed up and bloodied, all the while loading up with single bombs on the back foot. If you are a David Haye fan, watching him gasp for oxygen was a worrying sight to behold, especially considering he wasn’t throwing that many punches. His fitness, however, does seem to have improved a smidgen as on this occasion he was able to find a second wind that he plainly didn’t possess a couple of years ago.
Even more encouraging was that his vaunted power never seemed to diminish, even when he looked to be on his last legs. The final salvo was as explosive as anything he threw in the opening rounds, and the referee was correct to intervene when he did. Johansen’s legs were being supported by bravery and bravery alone in the final seconds, he needed to be saved and thankfully he was.
All in all, the fight was just what the doctor ordered for Haye. Although many were expecting him to score an early knockout, getting some hard rounds under his belt will ultimately prove invaluable for his long-term development and has given him and his team an ideal opportunity to address some flaws that would not have been detected had he blown away Johansson with his customary swiftness.
”I know in myself that I can win late,” said Haye after the fight. “I've put so much work in the gym, I know I can go on in the later round, the gas tank was not empty. I was choosing when and what to throw at him. I proved that I don't have to win early.”
Also featured was a light-middleweight contest between the unbeaten Gary Woolcombe and Portuguese brawler Eugenio Monteiro. In a somewhat scrappy encounter, Woolcombe was the more the more accurate fighter over the eight-round distance and was awarded the fight unanimously. With wins over the likes of Takaloo and Anthony Farnell, Monteiro was a big step up in class for Woolcombe and the assured manner with which he handled him is sure to have turned a few heads in the British boxing scene. Monteiro record now stands at 14-8 (7) while the Welling born prospect improves to 20-0 (6).
In other action, light-middleweight prospect Anthony Small swaggered into the ring and destroyed Kai Kauramaki of Finland in three explosive rounds. Doing his best Naseem Hamed impression, the undeniably entertaining and talented Deptford dazzler detonated bombs on his opponent's chin from almost impossible angles and used cat-like reflexes to avoid any return fire. Kauramaki drops to 12-10 (4) while Small extends his unbeaten ledger to 10-0 (6).
Click for larger image © Stefan Christou / Saddo Boxing
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