Shortly after defeating World Boxing Association/World Boxing Council champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (33-4, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan, in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, British cruiserweight David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) announced that he wouldn’t be defending the newly won titles, that he’d instead be moving up to the heavyweight division where he hoped to win a title in the near future. Given the 27 year-old Haye’s considerable power, it would seem that he would have an excellent chance at succeeding at his goal.
At 6’3″ 215 lbs, he certainly has the needed size to compete at a heavier weight, and he has stated that he will continue to add weight, enough possibly to come in at around 230+. From his standpoint, I suppose it’s a smart thing to do, as he’s clearly the best fighter in the cruiserweight division, although I’m sure World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli would have something to say about that. However, I’m not so certain that Haye will be even remotely successful at heavyweight. That’s not to say that he won’t have the power to compete, because I do feel that he has true heavyweight power.
His main problem, it seems, is his lack of defense combined with his weak chin. Against Mormeck, Hayes was almost knocked out in the 4th round, and if it weren’t for Mormeck’s dreadful ability to put more than a couple of meaningful punches together at a time, he’d have stopped Haye with ease in the round. For that reason, I can’t give Haye much credit for beating the 36 year-old Mormeck, nor can I give him any chance at ever winning a heavyweight title. A year earlier, Haye was taken to the brink by an Italian fighter named Giacobbe Fragomeni, who busted up Haye’s face and had him on the verge of being knocked out. Not good.
The way I see it, the first decent heavyweight that Haye meets up with that can handle his shots, will beat him, likely by knockout. I’d even pick the lower level heavyweights, such as Juan Carlos Gomez and Kali Meehan, as having a better than average chance of defeating Haye. For all his talents, I see Haye failing miserably at his venture in the heavyweight division, much like Jeremy Williams did, and end up wasting a year or two of his career before he gets the message.