By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, former cruiserweight champion David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) is rumored to be fighting former WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (34-6, 26 KOs) on October 18th at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), Greenwich, in London. If this turns out to be true, it would be a tremendously bold move by Haye, considering that Maskaev, 39, a powerful puncher, is still quite good despite his advanced age and only recently did he lose his WBC heavyweight title in a 6th round stoppage to Nigerian Samuel Peter in March. Haye, 27, had been previously saying that he wanted to get a big-named opponent for his first bout as a heavyweight, and that he wasn’t going to mess around and fight one of the “fat slobs” in the division. As always, if this news turns out to be true, Haye would be doing exactly as he’s done in the past, making bold statements, then backing it up by going out and doing precisely what he said he was going to do.
In choosing Maskaev, Haye would be looking at a fighter with a tremendous amount of experience, fighting (and sometimes losing) a large amount of popular fighters like Oliver McCall, Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Peter, Sinan Samil Sam, Kirk Johnson, Lance Whitaker and Corey Sanders. He’s beaten most of them, and lost in spectacular fashion to some, like Johnson, Tua, Sanders, and McCall. His chin has always been his biggest problem, letting him down in big fights in which he had small leads. However, when his chin is holding up, he’s very difficult to beat due to his excellent boxing skills and better than average power.
In the latter regard, he has power in both hands, can take out his opponent with either of them equally, and seems to be able to hold his power well up to the very last round of many of his fights. Though he looks tired in the later rounds of his bouts, he still is punching very hard, with knockout force. This is a type of fighter that, if he’s still standing late in the fight, he has a good chance of taking Haye out, much like Carl Thompson did after Haye punched himself out in the 5th round in their September 2004 bout. Haye has since learned how to pace himself much better, yet he still appears to be plagued by stamina problems and a weak chin, judging by his fights against Giacobbe Fragomeni and Jean Marc Mormeck.
Haye is also still hoping to line up a match with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, and plans on attending Klitschko’s bout on Saturday night against challenger Tony Thompson in Hamburg, Germany. Apparently, Haye is going to try and confront Wladimir once again, likely to shame him into a bout with him. Previously, Haye confronted a timid looking Wladimir at charity benefit that Wladimir was holding a couple of months back, challenging him to a fight. Wladimir, looking more than a little frightened, brushed Haye off, suggesting that he win some fights, gain some weight, then come back to him at that time.
However, the meeting (available on You tube) left one with the impression that Wladimir was afraid of Haye. In other comments that Wladimir has made since that encounter, he has made it clear that he won’t be fighting Haye until he proves himself by beating some top fighters in the division.
In that regard, Haye looks as if he’s doing just that by taking on Maskaev in October. Haye, if successful in his fight against Maskaev, he still may have to beat another top fighter after that in order to get Wladimir to be encouraged and/or pressured to take the fight. Wladimir has another mandatory bout due next, this one for his IBF heavyweight title against his number #1 challenger Alexander Povetkin.