Don’t Compare Haye to Holyfield
October 2nd, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: If you listen to a lot of fans of David Haye, they like to bring up former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield as an example of a fighter who was able to move up from the cruiserweight division and succeed as a heavyweight, capturing the IBFWBA/WBC titles. However, Holyfield doesn’t see Haye as being in a similar situation as him, saying to the BBC:
Haye basically talked his way into not one, but several heavyweight title fights. First, Haye was supposed to fight IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on June 20th of this year, but Haye suddenly came up with a mysterious back ailment that sprang up just weeks to go before the fight.
Wladimir then had to find a replacement opponent for that fight. Then, Haye was going to fight WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s brother, but Haye backed out on that fight for the opportunity to fight another heavyweight champion, Nikolay Valuev. “I moved up in 1988 and had six fights in two years before I was finally ranked number one and got the opportunity to fight the winner of Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas,” Holyfield said.
Indeed, before Holyfield got a chance to fight Buster Douglas in October 1990, he beat James Tillis, Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes, Adilson Rodrigues, Alex Stewart and Seamus McDonagh. In contrast, Haye has fought only the 38-year-old Monte Barrett before he was given a shot at a heavyweight title.
Holyfield entered the heavyweight division with a reputation for having a solid chin, a big heart and good power. With Haye, he comes into the heavyweight division with a reputation for having a weak chin and great hand speed. No one really knows whether Haye has a big heart or not, because he’s never been in a fight where he had to really got to war. I suppose the closest thing that would come to that is his fight against Jean Marc Mormeck, a fight where Haye had to get off the canvas to win.
Holyfield: When people try to compare David Haye to me, I say, ‘wait a minute, I fought six heavyweights and beat them, they didn’t make me number one contender straightaway’. I fought my way in to prove I could win the heavyweight title.” Holyfield speaks the truth.
He worked hard after he first became a heavyweight, beating some big sluggers and some talented fighters. Why didn’t Haye have to do that? Could Haye have beaten similar fighters like Holyfield if he had to? I suppose the equivalent fighters that Haye would have had to fight or people like Alexander Povetkin, Eddie Chambers, Odlanier Solis, Kevin Johnson, Samuel Peter and Denis Boytsov.
I’m just not sure Haye could beat all – or any of them – to be honest. This is why it seems so strange when Haye fans like to point out that he’ll succeed at heavyweight because Holyfield, a former cruiserweight champion like Haye, showed in the past that it could be done. Yes, Holyfield succeeded, but he had huge problems as well, losing two fights to Riddick Bowe, another one to Lennox Lewis and Michael Moorer before Holyfield started to age and slow down. Holyfield clearly had the better chin and arguably the bigger heart.
Holyfield isn’t sure whether Haye will be able to beat Valuev on November 7th, saying “David Haye only fought one fight, and it will only tell you how good he is by how well he does in the fight against Valuev. He’s a very skillful fighter, but he’s moving up to the heavyweight division and he’s fighting against a giant, a guy who’s 100lb heavier and has a huge reach advantage.” Holyfield is right. Haye is stepping into the unknown by facing Valuev. Even though Haye is the quicker, younger, stronger fighter, he’s still giving up a lot of weight, reach and height in that fight and could lose.
Tags: 10 Responses to “Don’t Compare Haye to Holyfield”
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Scott is such a bad journalist his articles are littered with inaccuracies.Haye has had two heavyweight he fought Thomas Brolin at heavyweight.Haye will get koed
Scott for once a good article, with respect to substance instead of a rant. And I agree with some points, you cannot compare Haye to Holyfield in terms of performance at HW, before their respective title shots and true I do feel Haye should have had a few more fights at HW before his shot. But I would say they are comparable in the terms of what they both achieved in the CW division. In terms of power, I honestly feel Haye possesses more, but when it comes to skill, no doubt in his prime Holyfield wins hands down, finally heart, we all know how much heart Holyfield has, Haye has shown it in the past, and will be required to show it again in his next fight, but in truth we all can only wait and see if Haye can emulate Holyfield.
i cant see how people honestly believe that david haye is going to dominate the heavyweight division you need to take a reality check.He will get smashed sooner or later and iam guessing its going to be very soon.You cant say he has heart,you cant say he has a good chin,you cant say he has power at heavyweight,ok he has speed but thats all he has.lennox lewis and holyfield have both said now that they dont know if haye can win this fight because they probably think he talks trash too.good luck any how david.
i cant help but read scottie’s articles, its a little like seeing an extremely handicapped person across the street… you know you should have respect and not look but you cant help it!
Hayes been given a chance and has taken it, whats the problem? One day scottie youll get the chance to be promoted from toilet-cleaner to bin-emptier and if you feel up to it, who could blame you for taking it…
…i feel another Froch article is due
David Haye is nothing but a pile of hay.
Evander is the real deal.
There is no comparison.
if his cruiserweight career is anything to go by he’ll dominate the heavyweight division?
he didn’t dominate the cruiserweight division. he won some belts, fair enough, then moved up without defending them. even if he had dominated at cruiserweight, that is nothing to go by in a heavyweight fight. notice they’re separate divisions, one of which includes bigger guys who hit a whole lot harder. and to compare him to holyfield is laughable. holyfield moved up because he had dominated and wanted to take on more challenges. this guy figured he’d squeezed all the money he could out of the cruiserweight division, so he wants to talk his way into big heavyweight paydays. he’s picking his fights shrewdly, picking the easiest competition that will sell tickets/ppv, etc., because he knows that when he fights a real heavyweight, the interest he’s generated by talking trash will wear off.
I would not count Valuev out. He could land a big punch and KO Haye also. Valuev is not happy with the way that Haye has been trash talking him. Valuev could throw some big punches on Haye and KO him. Watch how Valuev had KO’d Barrett. Barret was sent flying from a big right hand from Valuev. Go Valuev. KO Haye.
i honestly think that Haye is not going to do anything in the heavy weight division because he doesn’t have the chin to hang with the big boys. I think the reason why he backed off the Klishko fight to fight big V is because big V is very slow and doesn’t hit hard. He will look good November but if he fights a guy like James Toney or David Tua he will be knocked out.
we will have to wait and see, you cant disprove or prove how good Haye is, that will be told on November 7th against big V, but i will say if his cruiser weight career is anything to go by he will dominate the heavyweight division
Steven