By Aaron Klein: After talking down the heavyweight division for the past couple of months since moving up to the heavyweight division, David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) will finally have to prove himself against one of them on November 15th, against American Monte Barrett. Haye’s opponent leaves a lot to be desired, but still this one promises to be a lot of fun, if only to see what happens to Haye when he gets hit on the button once or twice by Barrett. It probably won’t last though, because Barrett, 37, doesn’t have the chin nor enough power probably to take out the tender-chinned Haye. I say probably, because Haye’s chin is as weak as they come, and he had problems in the past against more than a few small cruiserweights, such as Carl Thompson, Jean Marc Mormeck, Giacobbe Fragomeni and Lolenga Mock.

However, as bad as Haye’s chin is, it should hold up under the strain of getting hit my Barrett, only a moderate level puncher, if that. I won’t say that it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that Barrett could get lucky and take Haye out, but for it to happen it would have to be a case in which Haye stood directly in front of Barrett and tried to destroy him without thinking about defense. If Haye does that, who knows? Barrett may blast him out in short order. But Haye would have to have an especially bad chin to be taken out by Barrett if he’s fighting smart, defending himself and looking out for some of Monte’s right hand bombs.

Let’s assume that Haye does get by Barrett, as most people think he will, does Haye go directly into a fight with Wladimir or does he face another weak threat? Before trying to answer that, let’s be honest and say that there’s probably no way on Earth that Haye will be put in with a fighter with any kind of power or threat to his weak chin until he’s handed a non-deserved heavyweight title shot against Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF/WBO heavyweight champion and the one that Haye has been droning on endlessly about fighting for what seems like ages.

Haye, if he’s at all serious about wanting to be the best heavyweight in the division, would be probably much better served trying to actually earn his title shot by beating some good fighters on his own instead of rushing into a fight with Klitschko and getting knocked out because of it, if you get my meaning. There’s always an impulse for a fighter to take the easy route and rush forward and try and scoop up an opportunity given to them, but if you ask me, is that any way to try and learn anything about fighting? Haye fights Barrett, an average heavyweight – not great – and then is rewarded by being allowed to fight the best.

Where’s the preparation? Is it Enzo Maccarinelli or Tomasz Bonin? Please. Wladimir would break either of those two fighters in half within a round. It seems almost incredible that Haye can be pushed from those fighters into a bout with Wladimir with only one heavyweight match in between that, his fight against Barrett. What is seems to me is a recipe for failure on Haye’s part.

If he doesn’t have enough faith in himself to beat some serious contenders in the heavyweight division like James Toney, Hasim Rahman, Alexander Dimitrenko, Kevin Johnson, Tony Thompson or Chris Arreola, then does he really belong fighting for a title against the fighter perceived as the best. If it’s not a case of fear, then is he just plain lazy and doesn’t feel like he needs to go through the work of fighting his way to the top like other fighters? Or has Haye merely overestimated himself, his ego cashing checks that his body can’t carry out.