Haye vs. Ruiz: Will John end the Haye hype machine?
March 17th, 2010
By William Mackay: On April 3rd, boxing fans will get to see whether WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) is for real or not when he steps it up and fights former two time heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) when the two fighters meet at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. Haye, 29, has failed to live up to expectations that some people had about him when he moved up to the heavyweight division.
Haye averaged only 10 punches thrown per round against Valuev, and had a poor punch connect total in that fight. Haye’s fight before that, he defeated Monte Barrett by a 5th round knockout and looked very basic in that fight, even though he did eventually stop Barrett. What we’ve seen in Haye’s fights against Valuev and Barrett is that Haye hasn’t shown the same ability that he possessed as a much smaller cruiserweight.
It could be that Haye has lost his speed and power in moving up in weight against the bigger fighters or it could be that Haye is trying to protect his glass jaw from getting tagged and causing him to get stopped again. Before anyone says that the 38-year-old Ruiz is too old to stop Haye, let me remind you that Carl Thompson was 40-years-old when he stopped Haye in the 5th round in 2004.
Haye has since won 13 straight fights, stopping 11 of his opponents in the past six years. However, Haye’s opposition during that time has been spotty, to say the least. The best fighters that Haye has defeated during those years are as follows: Enzo Maccarinelli, Jean Marc Mormeck, Valuev, Alexander Gurov, Glen Kelly and Barrett. Those are decent fighters, but not great ones. Those are fighters that you need to beat in order to get to the really good guys.
Unfortunately, Haye never fought top cruiserweight Tomas Adamek, Ola Afolabi or Marco Huck while he was in the cruiserweight division. That’s too bad, because I would pick anyone of those three to defeat every one of Haye’s opponents during the past six years, and I also think Huck, Adamek and Afolabi would beat every one of Haye’s opponents, even Thompson, if they were matched against them during their careers.
I think Ruiz has an excellent chance of beating Haye in this fight, and stopping him. I see it that way because of Haye’s weak chin, which puts him in danger against any heavyweight that can punch a little, and because Haye is probably going to be trying to slug it out against Ruiz. Haye might think that he has a chance to score an impressive knockout against an old and weak foe.
If Haye does this, I see Ruiz wasting little time in knocking Haye out and ending the Haye hype once and for all. A knockout by Ruiz would be a crushing blow to Haye’s career and he would likely have little choice but to go back down to the cruiserweight division where he would have a better chance of being a contender.
Tags: 21 Responses to “Haye vs. Ruiz: Will John end the Haye hype machine?”
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One things definate. Its going to be boring
@ Clint or (Clit)Wont be long til you eat your words. Wont be long til Haye is out of the picture. He is out of it now! he is a bum.
Won’t be long now until Haye is completly out of the picture
Haye is going to get his upcomance in the ring. He will not succeed against any of the tough, hard hitting heavyweights. Haye does not have the chin to hang in there with the big punching heavyweights.
Bonin was a nobody. Barrett was a light hitter and he was 38. Valuev was not a big puncher either. As soon as Haye gets tagged by a big puncher in the H/W division, he will go down and he will be counted out. That day will come soon enough – if Haye is brave enough to fight the tougher contenders. I am sure Solis is another heavyweight who would be more than willing to hand Haye another defeat – like he had done in the Olympics.
are people forgetting that the ruiz fight is a mandatory!!!!!!! also haye only ducked out of challenging klitchko because of the one sided contract on offer with all the clauses. beating klitchko would have meant 2 possible rematches and a fight with vladimir. haye decided to go another route, becoming world champion means when he goes to the table with klitchko again he is in a much stronger bargaining position. i think you can do nothing but have respect for him, ok he is brash, but ask yourself why, for attention? if so well played you are all on here chatting about him. haye as done everything he said he would so far including out pointing the beast with a broken hand for 9 rounds. beat mormec the ring title holder and very respected champion in france, come on respect where respect is due.
david haye will unify the division the klitchkos time is almost up
I am not at all sure Haye will knock out Ruiz……or even win. Keep in mind Ruiz has fought almost everyone in the heavyweight division and has lasted. Ruiz was only stopped 1 time and that was in 1996. He is a different fighter now. He is very crafty. I know he’s boring, but don’t count him out. I certainly would not bet on a KO by Haye.
What an utter load of rubbish this article is!!
Haye will knock out Ruiz within 4 rounds. He is far to fast and hits far to hard for Ruiz!!
Ruiz has re-invented himself for this fight and will be as prepared as he can be. It is a test for Haye but one that he couldn’t duck. If Haye takes care of Ruiz without too much trouble will Ruiz then be a shot fighter? I would say that the next step for Haye would then be a Klitchko.
all the ppl hating haye i cant wait till april 3 cuz when haye wins which he will u should all hang your heads in shame and as for William Mackay when haye wins there should be a protest to stop u writing blogs you always put good fights down and u write cr*p
God I hope so. Haye is all talk, no walk.
This guy claims to be the savior of the HW division.
So far, he’s decisioned Valuev, a circus freak. And now he’s fighting John Ruiz, who could put a hyperactive leprechaun on meth to sleep with his punch-grab routine.
He should have grown some balls and fought either of the K brothers.
In this day of multiple belt holders .. haye is just another mediocre belt holder.
Everybody who knows boxing knows the two K brothers are the top men.
@Uncle Ewald…..You took the words right out of my mouth, well put. This guy won’t be around very long at all. I really think Ruiz is gonna rough him up and take his heart away from him.
Mormeck was one of the men…if not the “man” of the CW division before Haye came along and sparked his as and Enzo only lost to Afolabi because he’s damaged goods, mentally gone since his destruction at the hands of Haye a pre Haye Enzo would of dealt with Afolabi quite easily. Finally he would have found it hard to fight Adamek, as Haye was struggling to make CW and Adamek was still campaigning at LH.
Who cares!
If your not in the ring with a Klitschko, your not fighting the best.
I was going to make some comments, but total boxing blog said it all for me including some stuff I wasn’t aware of. Hats of pal, I concur.
Haye`s career is packed with bouts against second class opponents. His inspired PR stunt pretending to go after a fight against the top notch Klitschkos soon vanished with Haye wanting no part of a genuine encounter with the brothers who being fighters that would clearly dismantle him and his high flying plans in short order. His antics however did give Haye some notoriety even if it had nothing to do with his boxing abilities.
Foremost predicament for Haye is he cannot circumvent the quality heavyweight fighters for much longer, when Haye does ultimately venture in to the ring with a leading heavyweight this will be equivalent to Haye being knocked out of heavyweight boxing forthwith. Haye will before long be rummaging around for work in a less demanding profession
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ruiz wins. He never seems to go away. But Haye should win and Hopkins wants Haye’s Title.
Haye crucified himself to make the cruiserweight limit which weakened him come fight nights. Against Thompson has was young and jumped right in. He gassed himself out and the fight was stopped not because Haye was on the canvas or in massive trouble, but because he’d punched himself out.
As for fighting Adamek, Afolabi and Huck. Adamek was campaigning at light heavy when Haye was in cruiserweight, Afolabi only became known once he beat Enzo Mac, and by this time Haye had moved up to heavyweight. Huck on the other hand was always up there, but he has been beat off Cunningham in 2007 and only ever fought in Germany.
Haye went to Mormecks backyard and took his title off him. Mormeck was a good solid champion! He then went and KO’d Enzo in 2 rounds. Macarinelli was seen as a top, dangerous fighter who could throw bombs.
Haye is now fighting at a more ideal weight. He steamrolled past Bonin on his heavyweight debut, and stopped Barrett in 5 after putting him down about 4 times. Against Valuev, Haye damaged his hand early and fought conservatively. No one looks good against the Giant and Haye troubled him near the end when he let his shots go a little.
Ruiz shouldn’t pose a problem for the younger, quicker,more powerful and more hungry David Haye. He will stop Ruiz within 5 rounds.
saviour of the heavyweight division.
Its virtually guaranteed Haye will stop him. He’s going to set the stall out to impress in this 1 after the points win over Valuev. Im going to the fight and my only worry is Haye doesnt KO him in the first round.
There is no way. Haye is going to smash him and be back to his gung-ho aggressive/menacing best. He has speed to burn and ferocious power in both hands.
There are no what-ifs here Haye has more talent on every line.
Power: Haye
Speed: Haye
Chin: about the same…Haye’s is better than given credit for
Tactics and smarts: about the same