Although defending heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko boxed well and picked up one of the biggest, as well as one of the most satisfying, wins of his career when he fought David Haye, the fight is best remembered all these years later for two things: It was a dull fight when plenty of fans had expected a good action fight. And the infamous toe excuse loser Haye came up with at the post-fight presser.

Klitschko had had to listen to Haye call him out, insult him, and then, most disrespectfully in the opinion of “Dr. Steelhammer,” produce T-shirts that depicted the two Klitschko brothers with their heads severed. And the fans bought Haye’s hype, they listened to his vow to KO Klitschko, of how he would “make the robot malfunction.”

The fight that took place on this day back in 2011 went down in Hamburg, Germany, and fans saw a largely one-sided fight. Dubbed ‘The Talk Ends Now,’ the fight had enjoyed quite a build-up on both HBO and Sky Sports. Klitschko was 55-3(48) and the 35 year old was pretty much at his peak. Haye, who was a former WBA cruiserweight champion who now held the WBA belt at heavyweight, was 25-1(23) and he was five years the younger man.

Klitschko retained his IBF/WBO/Ring Magazine belts as he took Haye’s WBA strap. And Klitschko did so pretty much as he pleased. Haye, who adopted the “tactic” of dropping to a knee whenever Klitschko tied him up and leaned on him (with Haye being docked a point for doing this for the umpteenth time in round-eleven), boxed negatively, even fearfully. And after all his big pre-fight boasting, this did not go down well with the paying fans.

Klitschko jabbed well, he controlled the distance, and he was in almost total control. Haye did get home with a few shots, such as in the 12th and final round when he briefly wobbled Klitschko with a right hand to the head. Klitschko was docked a point himself in round-seven, this for pushing Haye down.

In the end, this after the hype had not in any way been matched by the action, Klitschko won by lopsided scores of 118-108, 117-109, and 116-110. Afterwards, when speaking to the press, Haye made the big, embarrassing mistake of blaming an injured little toe for his loss; the busted toe, Haye said, preventing him from being able to pivot off his right foot and jump in and be explosive in the fight.

Nobody bought the excuse, and the so-called “Toe-Gate” episode served to haunt Haye for some time. There would be no rematch, there was no need for one. Klitschko was the far superior fighter, and he had put his arrogant, boastful challenger firmly in his place.