By Aaron Klein: According to Setanta, David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) will make his announcement of who his next opponent will be for his November 15th bout next Tuesday (September 16th). Treating it as if it’s an unveiling of a special gift, Haye is apparently going to be making the announcement at the O2 arena. So far, no hints have been given about who the opponent might be, but there have been possible leaks of information coming out with American heavyweight Kevin Johnson (20-0, 7 KOs) the one mentioned as the one who Haye has chosen.
If this turns out the case, Haye might as well have stayed and fought a cruiserweight instead of him, because Johnson has zero power to speak of and is little threat to score knockout over Haye. Of course, it’s a smart move on Haye’s part, because Johnson is ranked high at #7 in the WBA, so technically he’s a top 10 opponent, which fits Haye’s stated requirements of wanting to select a top 10 opponent. However, in my mind, I don’t see Johnson even in the top 16 of the best heavyweights in the division. He’s far, far away from number #7 and nowhere near a top 10 as far as I’m concerned, so I’m hoping this doesn’t turn out to be Haye’s opponent.
Johnson is a decent fighter, but more feather-fisted than dangerous and one that Haye could easily beat without having his own glass chin tested. Perhaps after watching what happened to Amir Khan last Saturday night, Haye might have opted to fight a heavyweight that presents little threat to his vulnerable chin. In selecting someone like Johnson, Haye has nothing to worry about whatsoever. The only think he’d have to worry about is not being lazy and trying to fight him from the outside. If he does that, Johnson would beat him because he has the better and more active jab than Haye.
While Haye does have a good jab of his own, he doesn’t throw it as often as Johnson does, and would lose the battle of jabs by a long shot. Haye also has a problem of keeping his left hand down by his side, thus inviting a jab from his opponent. Against the pretty much sorry opponents he faced as a cruiserweight, he rarely had to worry about getting hit when he had his hands down by his sides, because most of them were slow, smaller than him and without the reach to connect to his head.
Johnson, however, is tall at 6’3″ and has unusually long arms – four inches longer than Haye – and will be able to reach him with his jab without any trouble. This is what makes Johnson so difficult to fight on the outside. If Haye does choose Johnson, he will have to bum rush him often and try to take him out with something big, because he’s going to be made to look bad if the fight goes beyond 6th round. Johnson will swell up Haye’s face with his jabs and make him look like a loser, even if he does end up winning the fight in the later rounds.