David Haye Not Impressed With Current Heavyweights

By Boxing News - 07/17/2008 - Comments

haye464321.jpgBy Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, up and coming heavyweight David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) isn’t too impressed with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, calling him “predictable” and “boring,” someone that he could quickly figure out if he were to fight him. He laid waste to Wladimir, as well as the other top heavyweights in the division, in a recent interview with Setanta Sports, saying of Klitschko, “I wasn’t impressed with what he did. If Wladimir Klitschko was 6”2 and 220lbs I don’t think we’d be talking about him right now…His boxing ability after 50 fights doesn’t impress me. I can see what he’s going to do.”

Haye, 27, has been particularly eager at landing a fight with Klitschko, and doesn’t appear to be out off the least bit by Wladimir’s objections to a fight with him. Haye has said that he’ll fight a top guy, so as to prove himself as a top heavyweight in the division, but after that he intends on fighting Wladimir for his titles. Wladimir has one more mandatory coming up against Alexander Povetkin in 2008, but after that, if Wladimir is successful in his defense, there shouldn’t be anything holding him back from defending his titles against Haye.

Haye also had some less than kind things to say about the current heavyweights in the division, calling them “fat slobs.” According to Haye, “They seem to think just because they’re heavyweights they can come in out of shape…These guys are slow…heavyweights don’t punch fast.” Indeed, none of the top heavyweights in the division come even close to being as fast as Haye. Perhaps Wladimir may come the closest, but even he’s a lot slower than Haye. It will be interesting to see if Haye still has his blazing hand speed when he packs on 30 lbs of muscle to fill out to 230 lbs, which is the weight that he’s been saying he intends on fighting at.

Previously, as a cruiserweight, he’s fought at 200 lbs, which of course would make him appear very fast, for he’s at a lighter weight. By gaining 30 lbs, however, he’s going to be naturally slower, perhaps much slower than he might realize. A person can’t put on that kind of weight without it causing one to slow down, even if it’s all muscle weight. Haye fought at heavyweight in April 2007, stopping Tomasz Bonin in a 1st round TKO.

At that time, Haye, weighing a slim 217 lbs, looked dramatically slower than he had while fighting as a cruiserweight. If he intends on fighting Wladimir in 2009, Haye is going to have to come into the fight at a much higher weight than 217 lbs. At that weight, he’ll get shook with every shot from the 245 lb Wladimir, who would have much more power and size going for him. I expect Haye to come in at 230 lbs, but I’m not sure how wise it will be to gain that much weight in such a short time. He’d be better off, perhaps, to gain weight in small increments rather than all at once.

Ideally, he needs to fight several heavyweight bouts before taking on a top heavyweight like Wladimir, because he has nothing to get him ready for such an advanced step up in class like this. Certainly, you can’t consider Enzo Maccarinelli a fighter that would even somewhat get Haye prepared for a monster the size of Wladimir. If a tall fighter like 6’5” Tony Thompson had problem getting in range to land shots against Wladimir, then Haye, only 6’3” with much shorter arms, will be at a tremendous disadvantage.