How Can Haye Not Be Ranked In The Pound-For-Pound List?

By Boxing News - 11/13/2008 - Comments

Image: How Can Haye Not Be Ranked In The Pound-For-Pound List?By Jordan Taylor: David Haye. How he is not ranked in the pound for pound list is beyond me. With the greatest respect to Ivan Calderon and Paul Williams who have started surfacing in many lists, they do not come close to the Hayemaker.

An explosive boxer who successfully unified the Cruiserweight division by annihilated the so called No. 2 in the division (Enzo Maccarinelli) with a stunning TKO in round 2. Previous to that he challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck for the WBA and WBC Cruiserweight titles in 2007. Haye defeated Mormeck with a TKO in the 7th round.

His athletism, power, grace and general stature in the ring is something to behold. Rarely does a fighter bring so much excitement to the ring. The Maccarinelli fight bought Haye into the limelight, and now we stand here talking about Haye fighting the Klitschko’s. Publications here in the UK and The Ring have long been singing his name, and I feel he has a good standing among neutral boxing fans. He is a marketing dream. Good looking, snappy, humorous, cocky, built like a heavyweight and a massive right hand to back him up.

Never one to mince his words, Haye has been out promoting his fight with Monte Barrett. Contrary to popular public belief, this is his second fight in the division, and a knockout win in the early rounds (which I do predict) should see the dream fights of 2009 step ever closer. If anyone hasn’t already seen the Tomasz Bonin fight, then it is worth a view. You can find all 4 knockdowns in the 105 seconds it lasted. Unless Barrett can muster a genuine challenge, then I see maybe another fight with someone like John Ruiz before the super fights. Haye could be forgiven for looking ahead to the next year. He is in a rush though; he wants to be heavy weight champion by 2009, and retired in 2011!

“Wladimir’s got a couple of world title belts – so I’ll bash him up, then his brother,” Haye said. “That’s the big goal, definitely, without a doubt. Tag-team one after the other.

“It would be amazing to do. The ultimate goal. I think it’s definitely possible.

“Once I knock out Klitschko it will get some excitement back in it, especially as his brother will look to avenge him.

“They’ll really get their teeth into it and it will cause excitement. I think Vitali will end up fighting (WBA champion Nikolay) Valuev and I’ll fight the winner.”

That is fantastic confidence from a fighter, and I love it. I would really like to see Haye fulfil his dream. Many people claim the heavyweight division is poor. I agree to an extent, but I feel it is just the styles on offer at the top are not great. The No 1 fighter in the division has a safety first game plan that makes Lennox Lewis look like Roy Jones. Haye can bring the good times back to the elite section of Pugilism.

“Neither [Klitschko] are invincible. I see flaws in them. Neither is at their peak. Vitali had four years off. I don’t think he’s as dangerous as a lot of people give him credit for.

“Someone with my speed, he’s going to have to get those old legs travelling around the ring. He might have some problems.

“Wladimir looks more fluid, a natural athlete. Vitali a bit stronger and tougher. He’s less vulnerable but not as fast. What Wlad lacks in toughness he makes up in boxing ability.”
And that sums it up. The Brothers from East are scared. They know their safe at present, and Haye coming up poses a severe threat to their monopoly on the game. Maybe their looking forward to the challenge?

I am looking forward to seeing the Hayemaker in action again. It is a must see fight as it will gauge how good this Champ really is, stepping up in weight. Let’s face it, Cruiserweight is not as glamorous as the Heavy’s, this man is going to go global and will do both mainstream fans and purists a big favour.



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