World Boxing Council/World Boxing Association cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (33-3, 22 KOs) will defend his titles against British challenger David “Hayemaker” Haye (19-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, near Paris, France. The fight matches up two knockout artists with massive power, both capable of knocking out opponents with a single shot. Mormeck, 35, is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over O’Neil Bell in March 2007, a bout in which Mormeck won the WBC & WBA cruiserweight titles.
The bout was especially meaningful for Mormeck, for he’d been stopped in the 10th round by Bell in January 2006, a fight that was marred by numerous rabbit punches that Bell landed to the head of Mormeck, none of which, incredibly, was penalized by the referee.
Haye, 27, despite having an impressive knockout record, most of the bouts have been against far less skilled opponents than Mormeck. Haye was defeated in 2004, losing a 5th round TKO to former British cruiserweight champion, then 40 years-old, when Haye foolishly tried for an early knockout win and quickly exhausted himself and was taken out. Since then, Haye has fought mostly lower level opponents, winning most of them by KO. However, against Giacobbe Fragomeni, in November 2006, Haye struggled badly and was on the verge of being stopped by the 38 year-old Italian cruiserweight. The battle showed that Haye still suffers from stamina issues, as he looked badly fatigued by the 6th round, and took a terrible beating until pulling out the victory with the 9th round TKO.
Naturally, Haye will have his work cut out against Mormeck, who will be fighting in front of a large home audience in France. It’s unclear how Haye will respond under those conditions, for he’s fought his entire career in front of British crowds, and this will be a first for him fighting in front of a large hostile crowd. For Hayes to win, he’ll have to conserve his strength and try to pace himself, because if he tries to stop Mormeck., he might run into one of Mormeck’s monstrous shots and get stopped.
Of the two, Mormeck is probably the harder puncher and the better overall boxer, so Haye is going to have to deal with a lot of adversity if he plans on coming out ahead and escaping with a victory.