By Scott Gilfoid: Britain’s David Haye (27-2, 25 KOs) says he’ll be ready to face unbeaten #2 WBC heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) as soon as he and his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport are ready to make that fight. Haye, 35, feels that he’ll probably be the betting favorite in a fight against Joshua, and he thinks he’ll definitely KO him.
Haye sees the 6’6”, 245lb Joshua as a young fighter with a lot of flaws in his game that he feels he can take advantage of if/when that fight takes place in the future.
I think that Hearn originally wanted Joshua to fight Haye before he massacred Mark De Mori in one round last month, but the combination of Haye’s performance in that fight and Joshua’s struggles against Dillian Whyte likely has Hearn thinking it might not be a good idea to let his money fighter Joshua take the fight with Haye just yet.
“Mark de Mori made one mistake and he was unconscious for five minutes. If Anthony Joshua makes a mistake he will be unconscious for five minutes,” Haye said to skysports.com. “He obviously wants to wait a little while to get some more world-class experience, which is understandable.”
Haye will be lucky if he doesn’t suffer another injury while getting ready for his next fight on May 21, because he’s had a recent history of frequent injuries. As far as a Haye-Joshua fight, I doubt that we’re going to see that happen until Joshua does something at the world stage. The only way I see that happening is if Joshua is able to get a fight against IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin or WBA “regular” champion Ruslan Chagaev and he beats one of those guys.
If Joshua can win a world title, I see Hearn having him milk the belt for a while to bring in a huge amount of cash. Once Joshua has made a ton of money after a year or two, then I see Hearn being willing to risk his hide in a fight against Haye. It’ll be an advantage for Joshua because Haye will be even older than he is now, and that works in Joshua’s favor because he’s only 26 right now. Joshua has a lot of time to wait Haye out until he becomes older, less dangerous and more prone to injuries.
“I don’t think it would be a bad thing if he [Joshua] was to lose to me,” Haye said. “I lost a fight in my 11th fight and I came back and learned from it, and rebuilt. Sometimes you need a loss to get where you want to get to. He’d probably be the underdog against me at this moment, but maybe he’s going to wait and get some experience.”
Haye can talk all he wants about how it would be a good thing for Joshua to lose to him, but I don’t think that’s going to convince Hearn to let his prized golden goose Joshua take a dangerous fight right now. I think Hearn has a risk aversion right now when it comes to Joshua, because he hasn’t brought in that pot of gold yet for his promotional company Matchroom Sport. Like I said, once Joshua brings in a massive amount of cash, then I see Hearn being willing to put Joshua in a risky fight that he could lose. Until then, look for a lot of safe match-making for Joshua while he makes money in record-padding fights that bring in good money on Sky Box office in the UK.
"To walk out there at @TheO2 and dispatch a top 10 fighter was one of the best moments of my life": @mrdavidhaye https://t.co/fk9rKF0VoC
— Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) February 2, 2016
Haye says he wants to fight a top contender in the division that can give him rounds. However, I’d be surprised if Haye picks out anyone better than his last opponent Mark De Mori. The problem with Haye is he’s small at only 6’2″, 227lbs. As such, if he faces a rugged guy that can handle his punching power and fire back with his own shots, Haye might well fall apart under the straight of the shots. At 35, I see Haye as the equivalent of an old career with 300,000 miles on it, with blue smoke coming out of it’s tailpipe when you get it going up to 60 mph. Haye will be fine if you run him slow and easy in nice highway miles, but if you try and get him up to 100 mph for any length of time, something could blow. He might throw a rod or blow a gasket on you.
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