David Haye. Photo credit: Atilthehun
British boxers Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora and David “Hayemaker” Haye could both face lifetime boxing bans after brawling at a post-match press conference in Munich, Germany. The pair clashed violently after Chisora’s gutsy 12-round defeat by defending WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. The ugly brawl has battered the bruised reputation of boxing and sickened and saddened lovers of the sport.
At the press conference, retired boxer Haye, who had attended seemingly in an effort to engineer a big-money bout with 40-year-old Klitschko, relentlessly goaded Chisora. Chisora reacted by leaving the dais to confront Haye. After a string of insults were exchanged, punches were thrown in an ugly melee, which raged for almost five minutes. Read Steve Bunce of The Independent‘s blow-for-blow account of the Munich mayhem here.
After the brawl, Chisora exclaimed, “he (Haye) glassed me! F*cking pussy … David, I’m gonna shoot you. I swear to God, David, I’m going to f*ckin’ shoot you. I’m going to shoot you. I’m gonna shoot David Haye. I am going to shoot David Haye. He f*cking glassed me …”
The Munich brawl capped a terrible weekend for the reputation of the sport. Hot-headed Chisora slapped the face of Vitali Klitschko at the weigh-in, and spat water in the face of his younger brother Wladimir Klitschko in the ring at the Olympiahalle minutes before the bout, which was being broadcast in 150 countries.
German police want to question Haye after releasing Chisora without charge. The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) said a misconduct investigation had been opened into Chisora’s “behaviour … prior, during and after” the Klitschko fight. Although Haye has retired from the sport, the board could choose to effectively ban him by denying him a license if he seeks to fight again, noted the BBC.
Authorities must get tough. “Ban them both after brawl, or we won’t forgive you,” boomed Jeff Powell of The Daily Mail in an appeal to the BBBofC. Powell lamented that the reputation of British boxing “has been dragged through a pool of blood on the floor of a German bar. How shameful, how damaging to the hard old game, how humiliating for our sporting nation.” Powell bellowed that only “punitive, exemplary action will keep the abolitionists and the opportunist politicians from having their way with the last of the man-to-man blood sports,” and insisted that “warnings simply will not do. Lengthy suspensions and swingeing fines must be on the agenda of a rigorous court of inquiry.” “Parodies of London gang wars have no place in any sport,” said Powell, who suggested that Chisora, “this refugee from oppressed Zimbabwe,” “should have received corrective treatment from the Board when he bit one opponent, then when he was convicted of assaulting a girlfriend.”
“The ghastly spectacle of Dereck Chisora, David Haye and their trainers caught up in a primitive, demeaning brawl at the end of a night of world championship boxing has done immeasurable harm to the game these heavyweight Londoners profess to love so much,” sighed Jeff Powell of The Daily Mail.
Don’t blame boxing! Kevin Mitchell of The Guardian pleaded, “don’t blame boxing for the brawl, blame Dereck Chisora and David Haye.” Mitchell said both boxers have “tiny minds” and acted as they did because they are living in a “Land Of No Consequences. It is a strange place, peopled by cosseted individuals who refuse to live by the rules the rest of us take for granted. They have for neighbours footballers, politicians, various Z-listers, singers and wannabes waiting for a next headline.” “Boxing teaches discipline and respect. It is the core of the sport. Without it, the exercise descends into what we witnessed in Munich,” argued Mitchell, who said “both were culpable: Haye of pushing an emotional man too far and Chisora of resorting again to … physical problem-solving.”
“I know Haye quite well. He is a likeable lad, but how can I defend what he did in Munich? When a professional boxer raises his hand in the street he is brandishing a lethal weapon. Holding a bottle the crime is even greater,” argued ex-boxer McGuigan in The Mirror.
Sport left flailing in the gutter. Writing at The Mirror, ex-boxer and ambassador for the sport Barry McGuigan said “what happened in Munich makes me angry and frustrated. The fracas between Haye and Chisora had nothing to do with boxing and everything to do with hooliganism.” McGuigan was saddened that the brawling pair have damaged the reputation of a sport which is a “force for good” and “turns lives around” and urged the the BBBofC to “throw the book at both men.” “Boxing is not vandalism in gloves. It is a sport built on dignity, honor and respect. Not that you would know watching Haye and Chisora flailing in the gutter,” concluded McGuigan.