Vladimir Klitschko beat Britain’s David Haye on a unanimous points decision to add the WBA heavyweight title to his three other belts and complete his family’s domination of the division.
The Ukrainian, whose lighter and smaller opponent took him the full 12 rounds despite fighting with a broken toe, was declared the winner 117-109, 118-108 and 116-110 by the two American and one South African judges.
While denied the 50th-career knockout he had hoped for, Klitschko – now 56-3 – had more than enough reason to celebrate with his brother and WBC champion Vitali.
They now hold the WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and IBO belts between them and have achieved their lifelong dream of uniting the division in the family.
The youngest of the brothers, at 35, was taunted publicly by the trash-talking English Haye in the build-up to the fight and had promised to punish him.
“I am still not okay with his behaviour before the fight,” added the giant ‘Dr Steelhammer’.
“It’s definitely disgraceful to the boxing fans, to the sport of boxing, the way the man behaved himself. I think the fight talked for itself.
“He connected a couple of punches, I wasn’t hurt in any situation in the fight,” added Klitschko.
The Briton, now 25-2 after his first defeat in seven years, explained afterwards that it had more to do with the ‘secret’ injury he was carrying.
“I broke my toe about three weeks ago,” said Haye, baring his foot in the ring to prove his point. “I didn’t let anyone know that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.
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