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Klitschko trainer tears into 'easy to beat' Haye

Wladimir Klitschko was too quick and too powerful for David Haye © PA Photos

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Manny Steward, Wladimir Klitschko's trainer, has launched a withering critique of David Haye, claiming that the Brit went into survival mode after being stunned by Klitschko's speed and power in the early stages of their heavyweight unification showdown.

Haye has been widely criticised for employing negative tactics during his points defeat against the Ukrainian, with many commentators suggesting that his cautious approach played into the hands of Klitschko, who has experience of panicking when put under pressure: Corrie Sanders KOd him in 2003 with a blistering early attack.

Haye's reluctance to engage was particularly surprising given his boastful talk prior the bout, which included a promise that the Hamburg fight would prove to be a "brutal execution".

Steward has now rubbed salt into Haye's wounds by accusing him of being entirely predictable with his in-ring tactics on fight night.

"He was exactly what I had figured," Steward told the On the Ropes radio show. "I was amazed that everyone had built him up to be such a fighter based off his talk. It's really amazing what hype can do, and he didn't do anything that surprised me. I always figured it was going to be an easy fight.

"I could see at a certain point, really after the first round, that David's mindset was more into surviving and not being knocked out.

"He was very easy to figure out. I mean it was nothing complicated at all. I was just totally amazed how everyone had expected him to come out and be like a Mike Tyson.

"That's not his nature. He's never been that way and when he fights big guys, he is seemingly fully aware and intimidated by the size of the bigger fighters and that's exactly what he did.

"During the fight David Haye was acting like a punk. He was falling down every time he got close to Wladimir, dropping to his knees and looking to the referee."

Steward also pulled no punches when discussing Haye's trainer Adam Booth, whose reputation has been severely dented by the comprehensive nature of his charge's defeat. "They [Haye and Booth] just lived in a dream world," Steward said. "Everything about them was theatrical. It was all like a Broadway play."

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