Haye looking to knock Ruiz out on April 3rd – News

By Scott Gilfoid: World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) is looking for a knockout in his next fight against former two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) on April 3rd, at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. This will be the first title defense for the 29-year-old Haye after he captured the title with an uninspiring 12 round majority decision over former WBA heavyweight title holder Nikolay Valuev on November 7th.

In that fight, Haye had the perfect opponent, a slow, aging 36-year-old 7-foot 325 pound Valuev, who appeared to be on his last legs as a champion after getting what many boxing fans felt was a gift decision over 46-year-old Evander Holyfield in his previous fight in December 2008. Valuev was there for the taking by the time Haye met up with him.

However, instead of living up to his reputation of being a slugger, Haye basically ran continuous loops around the ring for 12 rounds, throwing an occasional pot shot and averaging little better than 10 punches thrown per round. It’s hard to really understand how few punches that really. That’s like one punch every 18 seconds. We’re talking a really dull fight here. Haye looked tentative from the start, treating Valuev as if he was a knockout artist instead of a slow, weak-punching, aging giant.

Haye revealed later that he had injured his right hand early in the fight. However, that still doesn’t explain Haye’s low punch output or his timid approach towards Valuev in the first two rounds. Basically, the remaining 10 rounds of the fight were a duplicate of the first two rounds, so I don’t see how anything would have changed had Haye not suffered an injury to his hand.

On April 3rd, Haye will be getting another opponent in the form of the 38-year-old Ruiz who would seem to be perfect for him. Ruiz is getting up there in age at 38, has fought as a pro for 18 years (in other words, since Haye was 11-years-old) and has lost three out of his last six fights. I don’t how it could be more perfect for Haye to look good against this guy.

Ruiz is only 6’2”, 227, a smaller heavyweight and someone who doesn’t have a ton of power. This is the dream opponent for Haye, who has a reputation for having a shaky chin. Haye says “I will not only beat him [Ruiz] but beat him spectacularly and knock him out.” Let’s hope so, Haye, because if you don’t you’re going to have egg on your face.

Even if Haye struggles against Ruiz, like he did against Valuev, Haye is going to look bad in this one. Oscar De La Hoya, Haye’s promoter, is practically gushing over Haye, saying “With his [Haye] explosive fighting style, heart, youth and charisma, David Haye is the most exciting heavyweight in the world.” Please. We haven’t seen that, unfortunately, Oscar since Haye turned pro last year.

Let’s hope Haye can live up to this praise in the future, because I thought he looked horrible in the Valuev fight and I tend to think he’s going to look equally bad against Ruiz, even if he wins. I do expect Haye to win, but only because Ruiz has little power, is getting old and isn’t very big.

But I can pick out at least 10 heavyweights without even thinking hard that I feel could beat Haye if given the chance. Haye is a good talker, and accomplished some limited success in the cruiserweight ranks but I still see him as the same fighter that was stopped by 40-year-old Carl Thompson in the 5th round in 2004. Haye is very vulnerable against big punchers and fighters with a good chin in my book.

Haye says “I’m looking forward to getting back to what I do best – throwing my trademark Hayemakers.”

That sounds good, but I seriously doubt Haye will open up his offense in any real way like he used to do while fighting as a cruiserweight. If he does that against Ruiz one of three things will happen: 1. Ruiz will catch him with a shot in between one of Haye’s wild punches and knock him out. 2. Haye will punch himself out like he did in his fight with Thompson and end up getting stopped by Ruiz. 3. Haye will knock Ruiz out like he did against many of his opponents while fighting as a cruiserweight. My guess is Haye could end up getting a knock out, but I can also see the first two scenarios happening.

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