Haye Has Little Chance of Beating Vitali Klitschko

By Dave Lahr: Perhaps it was fate that David Haye would move up from the cruiserweight division to fight Vitali Klitschko. After all, Haye got very little attention aside from the British press while briefly holding down three of the cruiserweight titles between 2007 and 2008.

However, unless Haye can come up with a concrete plan of how to defeat the much bigger 6’7 1/2″ Vitali Klitschko, Haye might just have to scrap his dream of winning a heavyweight title and either retire from boxing or move back down a weight class.

The problem for Haye is that he chose the wrong time to move up in weight. If he had stuck around for awhile and plied his trade at cruiserweight for another three years or so, Vitali would likely have retired by then and Haye would only have to deal with Wladimir as his biggest foe. Now, however, Haye is rushing head long into a fight with the perceived better of the Klitschko brothers without a proven track record that he can even be competitive with the huge Vitali.

And if Haye is to be believed that he did suffer a back injury when he pulled out of his June 20th bout against Wladimir, one has to wonder whether the aftereffects of the injury might still be lingering when he steps into the ring against Vitali. If Haye isn’t 100% for this fight, I can’t see a good outcome for him.

Even if he is the younger fighter, a back injury is a serious thing to deal with and if it’s a legitimate one, there has to be the potential that Haye can reinjure his back while in training or in a fight with Vitali. Haye already blew once chance at a title. I imagine he’d hate to screw up two title chances.

Vitali and Haye have no real history together as far altercations or heated words. However, Vitali was less than pleased to see Haye disrespecting his little brother Wladimir with taunts about his manhood and fighting style. Haye won’t have to work hard if his plan is to try and anger Vitali and get him to slug it out with him.

However, I don’t know if that is the correct strategy for Haye to use against Vitali, because he’s known for having a great chin and has been battle tested in fights with Corrie Sanders and Lennox Lewis, both of whom punch harder than Haye.

The last thing that Haye probably needs is for Vitali to come out fast and slug it out with him, because Haye, while a good puncher, is known for having a weak chin. If anyone is going to be going down in the first few rounds, it will very likely be Haye if Vitali can catch up to him. A better strategy for Haye would be to try to stay on the outside and avoid Vitali for as long as possible.

Haye might be able to find some success by landing pot shots, and avoiding Vitali’s jabs and left hook-right hand combination. Haye doesn’t have the chin to take that kind of punishment for long without folding under the heat of battle.

But, if Haye can take the older Klitschko brother into deep waters, say the 10th round, Haye might have a decent chance of taking Vitali out with a flurry of shots similar to the one that Haye unleashed on Enzo Maccarinelli in his 2nd round TKO over Enzo in 2008. I don’t know that Haye will be able to drop Vitali, but if he can stun the Ukrainian, he might be able to force a stoppage if he can land enough shots without letting Vitali throw anything back.

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