By Sean McDaniel: Former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora (15-3, 9 KO’s) bravely says that he’s not the least bit concerned with his opponent former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye’s huge speed and power advantage that he has over him going into their July 14th fight at Upton Park.

Chisora told thesun.co.uk “No, his [Haye] speed and power don’t worry me at all, simply because he’s not tasted my power and speed before. The fact I’m a natural heavyweight will also work in my favor.”

Haye may not have tasted Chisora’s power, but he did taste IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s power, and he’s clearly a bigger puncher than Chisora. Haye was able to take Wladmir’s best shots without going down, and he made it very hard for Wladimir to land his power shots with any consistency. Wladimir is also a lot faster than Chisora, so Haye shouldn’t be worried about Chisora’s rather slow hand speed or power. Chisora does have decent power, but only for single shots. He’s only able to land really big punches when he loads up on them. When Chisora throws combinations, his power is nothing special.

Chisora’s form deteriorates when he lets his hands go, and he becomes very beatable. Chisora is at his best when he’s able to fight on the inside at a slow pace. Other than that, Chisora is a one punch at a time fighter on the inside, and not a particularly dangerous fighter unless you’ve got a weak chin. Haye has been stopped once in his career when he gassed out in his fight against Carl Thompson in 2004. But that fight was more of a product of Haye making a mistake of overlooking the 40-year-old Thompson than it was a case of Haye being overmatched.

For Chisora to do well, Haye will have to let him fight in close and let him stay there for prolonged periods of time. If that doesn’t happen, then Chisora is going to struggle badly and wind up losing.