Is Haye really the heavyweight the World has been waiting for?

By Scott Gilfoid: Ever since British cruiserweight turned heavyweight David Haye captured the World Boxing Association on November 7th with a boring 12 round decision over Nikolay Valuev, I’ve been hearing how Haye is the heavyweight that the boxing world has been waiting for since Mike Tyson called it quits on his career. Unfortunately, I just do see how Haye can be the next big thing at heavyweight when he’s a runner.

Those types of fighters don’t usually impress boxing fans and put backsides in the seats. I don’t what Haye used to be as a cruiserweight, because I’ve only seen a handful of his fights against fighters that I consider to be terrible fighters and I’m not surprised that Haye was able to knock them out without too many problems. But I do know what I’ve seen of Haye since he turned pro last year and I can’t say I’m impressed with him.

Haye looks like a pure runner to me. You can say that he’s not but I dare you to take a look at his stinker of a fight against Nikolay Valuev and tell me that Haye isn’t a runner. Anyone that runs laps around the ring for 12 rounds trying to avoid a light puncher like Valuev is a runner in my view. And when you add in the fact that Haye only threw a pitiful 10 to 15 punches per round in that fight makes it even clearer that Haye is not what the world has been waiting for. I do agree that Haye has a gift for flapping his gums.

Oh, he’s real good at that. If you let Haye get a word in you can forget it, he’ll self promote until he fills a stadium with his promises of an impressive knockout. Even Ruiz has noted that Haye is a runner, saying in an article at the Timesonline “I could see that Haye’s a mover, he’s a runner.” Ruiz is very eager to fight Haye, because the two-time WBA heavyweight champion Ruiz has always done well against heavyweights that move a lot like Haye. This is going to be hilarious to watch Haye running from Ruiz all night long.

I know Haye will throw some pot shots every now and then hoping to catch Ruiz and stun him like he did against cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli. But when that doesn’t happen, Haye is likely going to be running like crazy to keep from eating uppercuts and right hands from Ruiz. The boxing public was willing to give Haye a pass on his running against Valuev, because the big Russian was 7-feet tall and had almost a foot height advantage over Haye. The same boxing public will be turned off if Haye runs like no tomorrow against Ruiz, who is 6’2”, shorter than Haye by an inch.

Haye might be able to talk himself up in the short term and make it seem as if he’s the greatest puncher since sliced bread, but if he doesn’t produce against Ruiz, I suspect that boxing fans will start seeing him as fool’s gold and will be turned off towards his fights. I haven’t been impressed with Haye since he moved up to heavyweight last year against 38-year-old fringe contender Monte Barrett.

That fight and the Valuev fight are pretty much all that Haye has done at heavyweight, unless you want to count Tomasz Bonin. It’s easy to win fights if you pick the right competition, but even in taking on some weak fighters, Haye still isn’t impressed. Haye knocked out Barrett, but appeared to be hurt by him in the 5th round when Barrett connected with a left hand.

Haye didn’t exactly run Barrett over in that fight. Who knows? Maybe Haye can be the heavyweight that the world has been waiting for, but he’s going to have to fight much better than he did against Barrett and Valuev if he wants to be that kind of fighter. Right now, I see Haye as a poor man’s version of Chris Byrd. Chris, at least, would be willing to stand in the pocket looking to land against big punchers like the Klitschko brothers. With Haye, I see him circling the ring and throwing pot shots. That’s totally boring. He’s got to do better than that for me to be impressed.

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