According to the latest boxing news, newly crowed WBC/WBA cruiserweight champion David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) not only plans on moving up to the heavyweight division, effective immediately, but he also wants to fight IBF heavyweight champion as soon as possible, thus avoiding the need to work his way to the top like most heavyweight challengers. Certainly, Haye would appear to have the knockout power to stop Wladimir, given the Ukrainian’s weak chin, but for all that, Haye doesn’t have the size or the speed to match-up with Wladimir at this point.
Haye has said that he hopes to be fighting at around 230 lbs in the near future, making him a good-sized heavyweight, but it’s unclear whether the added weight will benifit him because he already looks over-muscled at 215. The added weight would likely do little besides slowing him down and making him an easier target for a top ten heavyweight to chop down.
No doubt, because of Haye’s name and reputation, he’ll be pushed along faster than a normal heavyweight challenger would. However, he’s still going to have to beat at least one or possible two top heavyweights if he wants a shot at someone like Wladimir Klitschko. That should be easy, though, as there’s no shortage of top 10 heavyweights that are in need of a good win, such as, Calvin Brock, Chris Byrd, Dominick Guinn and Eddie Chambers, should he lose to Alexander Povetkin. I’d pick Haye to beat all of them, excluding Povetkin, who would easily beat Haye and every likely knock him out.
Haye has said that he wants to be the first Britsh heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. However, in order to do so, he’s going to have to steer clear of fighters like Povetkin, Klitschko, Samuel Peter, Ruslan Chagaev or Alexander Dimitrenko. For that matter, I wouldn’t like his chances against WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov, who would seem to have too much speed and movement for Haye to deal with. Really, the only heavyweight champion I could possibly see Haye beating is Oleg Maskaev, but he”ll probably not have the title by the time that Haye gets a shot.
That means Haye would have to most likely beat somone like Peter, something that would be very difficult for a Haye, because of his soft chin. Though Peter was knocked down multiple times by Jameel McCline in their recent bout, Peter was mostly hurt from the first knockdown, a punch that surprized him. It’s doubtful that Peter would be taken off guard by Hayes, because Peter would realize that Haye has knockout power and would be on guard for it constantly. All in all, I see Haye’s effort at winning a heavyweight title doomed for failure.