By Thomas Hanson: In somewhat of a real head scratcher, David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) has recently been pushed up to near the top of the WBO and WBC rankings, specifically to number #3 in the WBO and #5 in the WBC, all without having fought any heavyweight matches recently. I could see Haye, 27, being ranked in the bottom 15 of the heavyweight rankings because he did prove himself as a capable fighter while fighting in the cruiserweight division, but to have him vaulted all the way to near the top at number # 3 and #5, seems totally unfair to the fighters that have been standing in line all this time waiting to get a turn at one of the titles.

At the same time, it makes these ranking organizations look more than a little bad since Haye has fought only once as a heavyweight, a fight over a year ago against little-known Polish heavyweight Tomasz Bonin. Other than the fairness issue, I have no problem with Haye being ranked high in the heavyweight division, for it brings instant excitement to the division and forces the heavyweights champions, such as Wladimir Klitschko and Samuel Peter, to potentially have to deal with Haye. However, it seems kind of misguided to have Haye pushed ahead of good heavyweights like John Ruiz, Chris Arreola, Hasim Rahman, Denis Boystov and Alexander Povetkin, to name but a few, without having fought any real heavyweight competition.

I’m not sure what the reasoning was for placing Haye so high in the rankings, but he should have at least cut his teeth on three or four opponents, preferably good ones, before being pushed up beyond other heavyweights that have proven themselves before.

Besides it being unfair to the other heavyweights, I don’t think it’s particularly fair to Haye himself. Obviously he’s very confident of his own ability, perhaps too confident for his own good, and is rushing ahead at too fast a pace without having anyone to prepare him for what he has in store for himself once he gets in with a good heavyweight. He’s like an amateur race car driver, who suddenly after beating a few people of the streets, mistakenly be can go to the Indianapolis 500 and beat much more accomplished drivers.

In this case, his ego seems to be way ahead for his level of experience and he’s probably going to be in for a rude awakening. I don’t expect him to face a live body in his fight on November 15th, even though he’s claimed that he’s going to be fighting a top level opponent. I think he’s too smart for that, and won’t to risk things by facing a dangerous puncher that can screw up any chances for a title shot. At the number #3 spot in the WBO, Haye is within a whisper of getting a title shot against the winner of Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin.

Haye is also poised for a future title shot against either Samuel Peter or Vitali Klitschko, although I doubt that Haye is all that interested in fighting either of them now or in the future because they’re too dangerous. Both of those fights are bad match-ups for Haye because they have excellent chins and punch very hard, meaning they would probably be able to withstand Haye’s early onslaught without any problems and then take him out in the later rounds, similar to what Carl Thompson did to Haye in a 5th round TKO upset win in September 2004.