By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye has been a slugger for most of his career up until recently when he snatched the World Boxing Association heavyweight title with a boring 12 round majority decision over seven foot Nikolay Valuev on November 7th. Haye, showing skills that I’ve never seen from him before, used lateral movement to confound the giant Valuev and keep him from landing his big clubbing shots on him. It worked rather well for Haye, as it kept him from getting knocked out and allowed him to take the title fighting in Germany.

Haye might have easily won the fight had he thrown more punches in the fight. He ended up averaging slightly more than 10 punches thrown per round. Haye next faces former two time heavyweight champion John Ruiz on April 3rd in Manchester, England. Some of Haye’s old fans assume that he’s going to show his old power and aggressive style that he used while holding down titles in the cruiserweight division, but we might be seeing a change in Haye now that he’s facing the big boys now in the heavyweight division.

Haye may now have to rely more on his boxing skills and movement to keep some of the hard hitting and larger heavyweights from blasting him out. While Haye has put on weight and gotten slightly bigger since moving to the heavyweight division in late 2008, his chin looks to have remained the same as it was while fighting in the cruiserweight division.

Haye has won all three of his heavyweight bouts in the division beating Tomasz Bonin, Monte Barrett and Valuev, but Haye looked hurt briefly by Barrett in the 5th round. To his credit, Haye was able to come back and take Barrett out, but the questions remain whether Haye has the chin to stand up against the big punchers of the division.

I think Haye really can’t and has little choice but to use his boxing skills to get by his opponents or else he may soon be getting knocked out over and over. Haye may need to use the same lateral movement against Ruiz that he did in his fight with Valuev if he wants to keep from getting taken apart. I’m not so sure that Haye has the wheels to move for 12 rounds against a fighter like Ruiz.

John may not be the youngest fighter in boxing at 38, but he moves well on his feet and is good at cutting off the ring against his opponents. At the same time, Haye doesn’t look exactly light on his feet at 6’3 217. That may not be a lot of weight, but it seemed like a lot for Haye, who moved around like a slow 250 pounder in his fight against Haye.

WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko looked positively smooth on his feet compared to the lead-footed Haye. This leads me to think that Haye might not be able to out-box Ruiz, even if he wants to. Haye might find himself fighting for his life in a fight where he may need to reach deep and try for a knockout to win. It’s sad but I think Haye might be too slow on his feet to be successful as a heavyweight.

It’s a double edged sword. Haye needs to move a lot to prevent the good heavyweights from getting to his fragile chin, but on the other hand, Haye might be too slow moving to be successful against any heavyweight that is quick enough to cut off the ring on him and force him to fight. I think Ruiz is one of those fighters who could end up exposing Haye on April 3rd.

This fight might end up coming down to whether Haye’s power has stayed with him as he’s moved up in weight. Thus far, Haye doesn’t look all that powerful as heavyweight compared to what he looked like as a cruiserweight. Based on what I’ve seen of Haye so far, I’d rate his power about the same as Monte Barrett, perhaps a shade better.

His hand speed isn’t all that good either now that he’s put on 17 pounds. People say it’s all muscle that Haye has put on, but I see some fat around jowls and it looks like he’s starting to sport a little bit of a gut as well. No, I think Haye might be ready to be exposed by Ruiz on April 3rd. A loss to Ruiz would be disastrous for Haye. It would wipe out future fights against Bernard Hopkins and the Klitschko brothers, and very likely send Haye back down to the cruiserweight division. I can’t imagine him staying at heavyweight if Ruiz knocks him out.