By Chris Williams: David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) has got to be the most confident – read: cocky – fighter I’ve seen in the heavyweight division since Muhammed Ali fought. Haye is so confident that it borders on a fighter with delusions of grandeur. He really believes he’s the guy in the heavyweight division or at least he gives the impression that he is. My question is what does Haye do if things don’t turn out to be like he thinks they are and he ends up getting knocked out by the huge Russian giant? What does Haye do with his career? Getting beaten by Valuev would be almost certainly the end for Haye as a marketable heavyweight fighter.
And the reason is because Valuev has really done down in his the past two years as a fighter and looks like he’s on his final leg. Never fast to begin with, Valuev looks slower, more plodding than he was in the past. He was a respectable puncher a few years ago when he defeated John Ruiz, Owen Beck and Monte Barrett in 2006, knocking out two Barrett and Beck.
However, Valuev is much weaker than he was back then and he’s showed problems with his stamina in fights against Ruiz, Ruslan Chagaev and Evander Holyfield. Getting beaten by a fighter like Valuev, would pretty much signal to the boxing world that Haye doesn’t have what it takes to be a major player in the heavyweight division.
And the thing is that could actually happen. Valuev might succeed in taking Haye deep in the fight, wear him down with mauling, and then take Haye out with a few clubbing shots in the 11th and 12th rounds. Goodness knows, Haye’s chin didn’t look exactly sturdy in his fight with Monte Barrett as Haye was dropped by a left hand from Barrett.
While Haye was down, Barrett added a nice left hand that had Haye badly hurt. Haye caught up and needed to sit back down again because he was so badly hurt. Neither of Barrett’s left hands were big shots, yet they did major damage against Haye, who looked as if he was hit by club.
That was the fear about Haye when he got the idea to move up to the heavyweight division. Boxing experts remembered how Haye had been hurt and beaten by a 40-year-old Carl Thompson in a 5th round TKO loss in 2004 and had been knocked down by super middleweight Lolenga Mock in 2003.
In 2007, Haye was dropped by Jean Marc Mormeck in the 4th round of their bout. With the exception of the Thompson fight, Haye was able to come back and win both the fights against Mormeck and Mock. But, it wasn’t a good thing that Haye was getting knocked down by small cruiserweights and super middleweights.
Valuev may not be a big puncher and may have lost a little speed and strength, but he probably can club hard enough to cause Haye problems if he can get him into the later rounds of the fight. This isn’t going to be just a walk in the park for Haye.
I don’t imagine that Valuev will be quick enough to land any of his slow shots in the early part of the fight, but as the fight goes deep and Haye begins to get a little tired and overconfident, I think Valuev will have his chance to club Haye into submission.
Valuev probably hits as hard if not harder than Barrett does and has a much better chin than Barrett. I think Haye would have been knocked out by Barrett had the fight gone into the later rounds. And that is where I think Valuev stands a good chance of beating Haye.
At 7’2” 325 pounds, Valuev will have an 11 inch height and over 100 pound weight advantage over Haye. I don’t care who they find to spar with Haye, none of them will be nearly as big as Valuev and won’t be able to prepare Haye for the fight.
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